SD Amendment E: "Special Grand Jury" Can Judge "Law and Facts" On Any Basis

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Thursday October 26, 2006 · 12:04 AM PDT

2006/10/26 · 00:04

South Dakota's Amendment E takes a swipe at a judicial tradition almost as old as habeas corpus: judicial immunity. In my limited, IANAL understanding, judicial immunity disallows people from suing a judge personally over official actions he/she has taken - whether handing down a sentence to throwing out a lawsuit deemed frivolous. And unfortunately, it's not only people who work as judges who could be sued under amendment E: anyone under the blanket of judicial immunity, including school boards, county commission members, health professionals reporting abuse, and possibly even jury members can be sued personally by someone who didn't like the results of the legal proceeding. As if that weren't enough, it's also retroactive, and the suits are presided over by an unregulated "Special Grand Jury." (Information from Project VoteSmart.)