How's That Again?

Students in a business law class at Oklahoma City's Northwest Classen High School began to wonder how familiar their elected officials were with basic legal rights. As a test of that knowl edge, they drew up a petition and two weeks ago descended on the state capitol to garner signatures from legislators. The petition read: "In view of Watergate, we the undersigned firmly demand that the Congressmen from Oklahoma support the following article: 'In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witness against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."

The students asked 271 state senators, assemblymen and members of their staffs to sign, and 111 refused, variously dismissing the petition as a dubious proposition, probably illegal, and poorly worded at best. When Governor David Hall was presented with it, how ever, he examined the document quickly, took out his pen and signed at once. He immediately recognized the wording of the petition as the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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