Legal History

After 14 Months, Transgender Couple Is Licensed to Marry in NYC

It took 14 months, but an unidentified couple in New York City now has a license to get married. And, in the process of battling for their rights, the two have persuaded the city clerk’s office to adopt a new written policy for dealing with transgender people, the New York…

Mar 8, 2011 10:36 PM CST

Lawyer for Sirhan Sirhan Plans to Tell Parole Board His Client Was ‘Hypno-Programmed’

A lawyer for Sirhan Sirhan plans to tell a parole board today that his client doesn’t remember the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, possibly because he was “hypno-programmed” to commit the crime. The lawyer, William Pepper, spoke to ABCNews.com and the Associated Press. Sirhan was set up and hypnotized,…

Mar 2, 2011 2:51 PM CST

A Court and Army Officer: Retired General William Suter Salutes His 20th Year as Clerk

Ask someone about Elvis Presley and he is likely to recall the 1950s days of “Hound Dog” and “Heartbreak Hotel.” Ask about famed basketball star Elgin Baylor and he may remember cheering for the Los Angeles Lakers. But ask U.S. Supreme Court Clerk William K. Suter, and he will regale…

Mar 1, 2011 9:59 AM CST

Midyear Attendees Get Special Showing of Robert Redford’s New Film ‘The Conspirator’

Robert Redford directs James McAvoy. An unusual must-do took midyear meeting attendees slightly off script, as they took in special viewings of The Conspirator, a soon-to-be-released film that tells the little-known story of Mary Surratt and the young lawyer who represented her on charges of conspiring to assassinate President Abraham…

Mar 1, 2011 8:20 AM CST

March 29, 1951: Rosenbergs Convicted

The espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg began on March 6, 1951, in the Southern District of New York. The prosecution’s chief witness was Ethel’s brother, David Greenglass, a former machinist at the Los Alamos nuclear installation. Greenglass, who had been named in the same indictments brought against the…

Mar 1, 2011 7:30 AM CST

Secret Tapes Reveal President Johnson’s Plans for Thurgood Marshall

President Lyndon Johnson’s plans to groom Thurgood Marshall for the U.S. Supreme Court are revealed in once-secret secret recordings and tape transcripts that have been released to CNN. Johnson’s plan was to appoint Marshall as solicitor general, where he would get the experience that would make him one of the…

Feb 25, 2011 1:23 PM CST

Congressman Lewis: A Rule of Law Revolution

Corrected: Congressman John Lewis, D-Ga., who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom tomorrow, took the House of Delegates on a trip back to the segregated South at the start of the House’s meeting in Atlanta today. “When people say nothing has changed, I say come and walk in my…

Feb 14, 2011 1:53 PM CST

Legal History and Popcorn Mix at Special Showings of Redford Film ‘The Conspirator’

Corrected: An unusual must-do has taken ABA Midyear Meeting attendees slightly off script, as they take in special viewings of The Conspirator, a soon-to-be-released film that tells the little-known story of Mary Surratt and the young lawyer who represented her on charges of conspiring to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. The…

Feb 13, 2011 1:30 AM CST

Stuff Abe Lincoln Says: Lawyer-President Gets a Twitter Feed

Just in time for what would have been his 202nd birthday, our 16th president is getting a dedicated Twitter feed. The tweets from @1865Lincoln, which started appearing today, will contain quotes from Abraham Lincoln as well as “an intriguing selection of little-known facts about the conspiracy that led to his…

Feb 11, 2011 8:50 PM CST

$5M Suit Claims President Carter’s 2006 Book Violated Consumer Protection Laws

A $5 million class-action lawsuit claims President Jimmy Carter deceived the public in a 2006 book by holding out as factually accurate his claims of historical events during Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. According to the suit (PDF), the book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid “is filled with demonstrable falsehoods, omissions and knowing misrepresentations…

Feb 3, 2011 3:40 PM CST

A Long-Forgotten Film on the Nuremberg Trials Helps Rekindle Interest in the Holocaust

Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson was cussing mad when he wrote a letter to Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall on Oct. 21, 1948. And it had nothing to do with the business of the Supreme Court. In two single-spaced pages, Jackson was detailing why the Army should OK the…

Feb 1, 2011 10:10 AM CST

February 2, 1790: Supreme Court Holds Inaugural Session

The U.S. Constitution provided only a bare outline of the judicial branch, so it was left to the first Congress to fill out the details. With the Judiciary Act of 1789, signed Sept. 24, it created 13 district courts, three circuit courts and a six-member Supreme Court (with two justices…

Feb 1, 2011 6:00 AM CST

Expanding Field of Forensic Botany Helps Point Detectives to Suspects

When it comes to pointing the finger at a murder suspect, plants are gaining an increasing role in the criminal justice community. Although the use of expert testimony by botanists dates back at least to the 1935 “trial of the century” in New Jersey over the kidnapping and slaying of…

Feb 1, 2011 12:07 AM CST

Hours After Appeal Filing, Top Ill. Court Rules Emanuel Stays on Ballot, Rebukes Appellate Panel

Capping an action-packed appellate week for the Illinois courts, Chicago election officials and a well-known city mayoral candidate, the state’s top court has just ruled—little more than 48 hours after an appeal was filed Tuesday—that former White House aide Rahm Emanuel will stay on the ballot. In a sharp rebuke…

Jan 28, 2011 12:19 AM CST

Researcher Can’t Be Prosecuted for Altering Abe Lincoln Pardon, National Archives Says

Updated: A researcher who gained attention in 1998 by claiming to have found the perhaps last document executed by President Abraham Lincoln prior to his assassination in 1865 has now admitted that he altered the date on the presidential pardon, says the National Archives in a written statement on its…

Jan 25, 2011 9:40 PM CST