Don Doig


Don Doig is the co founder of the non-profit group Fully Informed Jury Association in Montana, which was set up to inform Americans about their rights as jurors as well as personal liberties. He was the national coordinator for the organization. He is associated with the Jefferson River Coalition. He is also a former Libertarian Party candidate. He also wrote He Who Pays the Piper: Federal Funding Of Research, and was an associate policy analyst at the Cato Institute.

Background

Doig was a medical researcher but he left his career to found the Fully Informed Jury Association. He has written articles that have been published in the US~Observer.
He has maintained an active approach to the passing of bills, and matters including what is supposed to be guaranteed in the constitution or states having the power to establish their own
rules of governance. On January 31, 1995, he attended the 54th Legislature in relation to the latter. On January 28, 2005, Doig and Elias Alias who co founded the Jefferson River Coalition, drove to Helena to discuss with the Judiciary Committee of the Montana House of Representatives about the introduction of some bills. They went to speak about four bills that were introduced for passage. One he spoke to the committee about was about federal agencies which had become abusive and arrogant. Another one of them he was addressing was HB 287, which related to the Patriot Act and even though the act could not be repealed, Montana would have the choice not to enforce it. Doig was in agreement of this and rose to his feet in support. He was present at Montana's 61st Legislature in February 2009. This was a hearing relating to HJ 24. This was to urge Congress to halt deficit spending and also to adopt a monetary system as per the constitution.
His "The Farming of Washington: How U.S. Agricultural Policies Affect the American Farm" has been referenced in A Blueprint for jobs and industrial growth by Heritage Foundation, Official lies: how Washington misleads us by James T. Bennett, Thomas J. DiLorenzo and The Cato Handbook for Congress: 104th Congress by The Cato Institute.

Personal

He comes from Helmville, Montana, and he is related to the author Ivan Doig.
Today he puts out the Montana Fly Fishing Report, an online guide for fly fishing enthusiasts.

Fully Informed Jury Association

Along with Larry Dodge, Doig co founded the Association, to enable potential jurors to be aware of jury independence and their right to deliver an independent verdict. The idea to form the FIJA came from Doig and fellow libertarian activist Larry Dodge. After forming the organization they launched a campaign across 35 states in a bid to change the law so that judges would have to accurately inform jurors of their right to vote their consciences when deciding on a verdict. Along with Stewart Rhodes, he co-wrote the article Guerrilla Jurors: Sticking it to Leviathan which was first published at Lew Rockwell's website. He was quoted in the New York Times in 1994 as saying that he expected to see more prospective jurors risk jail rather than answer questions that they found to be objectionable. In The Missoulian he was quoted as saying to the House Judiciary Committee, "Trial by jury has been under attack for decades. Judges have attempted to suppress the power of the jury."

Medical

Doig has two degrees in microbiology. He has had articles published in magazines such as The Journal of experimental Medicine.

Political

In 1982 he was the Montana Libertarian Party candidate, running against Republican Bob Davies and Democrat Pat Williams. Williams won the election, taking 59 percent of the votes. Davies got 28 percent and Doig 3 percent.

Published work

from Viremia and Loss of Viral Leukemia Cell-Surface Antigens
in Leukemic Mice. Identification of Rfv-3 as a Gene Locus Influencing Antibody Production.. 1979. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 150:9. 10–19.
, pp. 5784-5788
I have a Nightmare, but Also a Shining Dream
Modified from the Montana Messenger, Vol. 1, No. 1, August 14, 2009
The Politicalization of Science. Op Ed Column, The Chicago Tribune, June 14, 1983, Section 1, p. 11. Also published in the San Jose newspapers. The Ministry of Science. Inquiry, December, 1983, p. 20-23.Farming Washington. Op Ed Column, The Houston Chronicle, Nov. 13, 1983.
Partial list: dozens of additional articles on the subject of jury nullification and the Fully Informed Jury Association were published in The FIJActivist, archives available on line at www.fija.org. Many of these articles were republished widely.