Editing "I AM" Activity (section)

=== Fraud trial of Edna and Donald Ballard ===
Based on statements made in books sent via the mail, Edna Ballard and her son Donald were charged with eighteen counts of mail fraud in 1942. The presiding judge instructed the jury not to consider the truth or falsity of the religious beliefs, but only whether the Ballards sincerely believed the claims or did not, and the jury found them guilty.<ref name="scotus"/><ref name="Thompkins 1997"/>{{rp|23}} The [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit]] overturned the conviction on the grounds that the judge improperly excluded the credibility of their religious beliefs from consideration, and the government appealed to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]]. In ''[[United States v. Ballard]]'', the Supreme Court in a 5–4 landmark decision held that the question of whether Ballards believed their religious claims should not have been submitted to the jury, and remanded the case back to the Ninth Circuit, which affirmed the fraud conviction. Interpreting this decision, the Ninth Circuit later found that the Court did not go so far as to hold that "the validity or veracity of a religious doctrine cannot be inquired into by a Federal Court".<ref>''Cohen v. United States'', 297 F.2d 760 (1962)</ref>

On a second appeal, the Supreme Court in 1946 vacated the fraud conviction, on the grounds that women were improperly excluded from the jury panel.<ref name="supreme.justia.com">{{Cite web|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/329/187/|title=Ballard v. United States, 329 U.S. 187 (1946)|website=Justia Law}}</ref>