7th Amendment:
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law
First the idea of common law is assumed, common law is defined as:
the part of English law that is derived from custom and judicial precedent rather than statutes. Often contrasted with statutory law.
This means the customs of the people and the prior decisions of the court hold sway over the statutes or decrees of a governing body. Interesting that the customs of a people are protected in this way and who is its adversary, the government and its possible encroachment on the way the people choose to act.
Then this amendment takes a turn to specifics and tells us what it can deal with, disputes over $20.00. This makes sense in the notion that there is a point when the disagreement is to trivial for a court to deal with, yet even small amounts can be important.
Trial by jury shall be preserved, we can think about this in a couple of ways but the most important at least to me was this, the people of a community represented by twelve average people get to decide the fate of these kinds of disputes not a judge. This is important because it is the community, the people deciding guilt or innocence not a single man who was chosen by a political leader. In other words the people hold the final judgment over disputes of property and money not the government.
Then comes the power punch, once tried by this jury and a verdict reached no one other decisions can be made, in other words double jeopardy applies even to these cases, once tried and a verdict reached the will of the people is final. All of this through the rules of common law as defined above.
The most interesting thing about this process and the fact this is included as a civil liberty is that it is a subtle way for the founding fathers to say the will of the people. The customs of the people are important and to put a finer point on this they are more important than the will of the government. The true power of decision lies not with government appointees but with the people and their customs.
Using that logic today means that the national government is in many ways a contrast to what our founding fathers intended and again to take this to a finer point when Congress or the President act outside the will of the people they are not only wrong but in violation of the 7th Amendment. Every time President Obama does not get his way and issues an executive order that does not involve the inner workings of the executive branch but changes the law and customs of this nation he is breaking the law of the land and in violation of the spirit of the 7th amendment. The immigration debate should end at this doorstep, President Obama has issued a decree that violates the customs of the people and therefore it is not legal nor should be enacted on.
It is not hard to see what our founders wanted to accomplish as they wrote the document that reiterates our rights as human beings, unfortunately it is also clear that our current administration does not agree with the customs of the people and is using every tool to fundamentally change our opinion, to include force. Maybe it is time the people joined hands instead of fighting amongst ourselves and said enough.