Wednesday, February 11, 2026
People who give us hope: DC Grand Jurors
In the five years I was a federal prosecutor, I indicted hundreds of people in front of grand juries. I never lost an indictment (technically, a loss is termed a "No True Bill"), and neither did most of the people I knew who did that job. Because the prosecutor controls the grand jury in a way not possible elsewhere in law-- there is no defense attorney or judge present-- you really have to have a bad case or a terrible error in presentation to get a No True Bill.
And yet... the DOJ seems to be getting a lot of them lately, particularly in DC. There was the sandwich-throwing guy, of course (he got a No True Bill on felony charges and then was acquitted of a misdemeanor), but more recently-- and probably more significantly-- the DOJ failed to get indictments on six Democratic members of Congress who had produced a video telling service members that they did not have to follow unlawful orders.
The Grand Jury is supposed to be a guard against bad cases, but it has rarely served that purpose in modern America-- until now. Thanks for giving us hope, Grand Jurors of DC!
And just in time.
