Sponsor
Julia Letlow
Representative · R-LA
Representative · R-LA
The bill protects the integrity of federal trials by blocking federal funding for programs that encourage jurors to ignore law, but it risks cutting off funding for legitimate academic study and civic discussion of jury nullification and adds compliance burdens.
Federal taxpayers and the federal/D.C. court system will not see federal grant money used to encourage jurors to ignore evidence or the law, preserving the integrity of federal jury verdicts.
Law enforcement and the justice system face a lower risk of coordinated attempts to influence federal trials because federal grants cannot be used to recruit jurors with the intent to subvert legal standards.
Nonprofits and universities that teach about jury nullification (even in neutral, historical, or critical contexts) could lose federal funding, threatening academic programs and civic education.
Students, faculty, and civic organizations may face chilled speech and reduced classroom debate on jury nullification because the restriction could deter discussion of the topic.
Nonprofits, universities, federal agencies, and taxpayers could incur increased monitoring and compliance costs because enforcing the restriction may require reviewing curricula and outreach content.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits federal funding for programs that train or recruit jurors to vote contrary to law or evidence (jury nullification) in Federal or D.C. courts.
Official title: To prohibit the provision of Federal funds to organizations that promote jury nullification, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 23, 2026 by Julia Letlow · Last progress April 23, 2026
Prohibits use of any Federal funds to support programs, materials, trainings, or outreach that encourage people to accept jury service in Federal or D.C. courts with the intent to vote contrary to evidence or law (commonly called "jury nullification" or labeled as "Equity & Root Cause Jury Training"). The ban covers grants, contracts, awards, and other federal financial assistance to schools, nonprofits, organizations, or other entities that run or produce such content or outreach, regardless of what the program is called. The law is narrowly structured: it does not create new programs or appropriate money, but it forbids federal funding from being used to back activities whose purpose is to recruit or train prospective jurors to decide cases contrary to the law or the evidence presented at trial.