Ordinary jurors hold the fate of giant corporations in American courts.

Evidence

Nesson was keeping his own kind of vigil. He’d begun fasting after the final arguments, and he didn’t intend to eat until the jury returned its verdict. By the third day of his fast, Nesson was experiencing an occasional transcendental moment. “It’s an amazing system, isn’t it?” he said to Schlichtmann after sitting quietly for a while. “These six jurors hold the fate of two of the biggest corporations in America in their hands. Six ordinary people! There’s nowhere else in the world it could happen but here. Law is the religion of America.” — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 2319

Categorization

• CANDY: The image of a lawyer fasting in the corridor until the verdict lands, calling “Law is the religion of America,” is quotable on its own.
• APHORISMS: “Law is the religion of America” reads as a durable claim about American civic faith, worth returning to.