Are grand juries indepedent or are they subordinate to courts? A case in Alabama

Supposedly, grand juries are independent bodies of the government, the so-called "fourth power" that operate independently from courts.

Of course, that is not exactly true.

The legal advisor of the grand jury always is the prosecutor, who represents a party in litigation and is interested in the result of the grand jury proceeding - which is a legal nonsense.

And, the grand jury cannot convene on a complaint from a citizen, only on a presentation of a prosecutor - that same "advisor" of the grand jury.

But, in Alabama the push against independence of this "fourth power" was made even further.

A judge of an Alabama Court has threatened to stop the grand jury investigation - into corruption of the government, of course.

So, apparently, the grand jury is reduced to a tail of the government that is being wagged the way the government wants - by prosecutors, and by judges.

Until independence of grand juries is restored, we cannot expect much justice or much cleanup of government corruption.