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In reply to the discussion: Spain's Judge Garzon Says U.S. Secretly Working to Have Wikileaks Founder Tried There [View all]sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)GJs were not meant to be used to search for crimes to apply to journalists, were they? Show me one statement from one FF that advocated using GJs for political purposes, or better yet, attempting to use the GJ, for YEARS, to try to find a crime that turns Journalism into 'espionage'. The Founding Fathers intentions were the exact opposite of that.
It seems that the use of the GJ today often resembles the way Kings used and abused it rather than the way it worked during the time preceding the Revolution, when it did work in favor of the people against abusive prosecutions by the King. And that is what influenced the Founding Fathers to view it as a protection for ordinary people against an agent of the Government who might have personal or political reasons for going after someone without any checks.
But I doubt the way GJs are often used today would get the approval of the FFs, considering what their intentions were.
What crime is the Government bringing to this GJ? Does anyone know? And since there is normally a limited amount of time for a GJ to sit, why is the Government claiming GJ will likely be seated for YEARS? The normal limit is 18 months, sometimes extended but since no one knows what crime is implied here, other than Lieberman's outrageous claims of sedition and spying, not only by Wikileaks but by Assange AND the NY Times and the Washington Post, people have a right to know on what basis this GJ was convened and why it should kept for years.