Legal History

Celebrate the 80th anniversary of Prohibition repeal with our ‘Mens Rea’ cocktail

Eighty years ago today, on Dec. 5, 1933, the Eighteenth Amendment was officially repealed by the ratification of the 21st Amendment. It once again became legal to produce, transport, and sell alcohol in the United States, ending the massively unpopular 13-year experiment in Prohibition which had led to a big…

Dec 5, 2013 5:20 PM CST

Judy Clarke has a knack for keeping her notorious clients off death row

In a South Carolina courtroom 18 years ago, Judy Clarke stood before a jury of nine men and three women and tried to humanize a client who had committed a horrific and inhuman act. Susan Smith at first claimed that a black man carjacked her and her two sons. She…

Dec 1, 2013 11:20 AM CST

‘Link rot’ is degrading legal research and case cites

The World Wide Web may seem like a limitless superhighway. But it is filled with dead ends: hyperlinks that point to webpages that have become permanently unavailable. It’s a phenomenon known as “link rot.” While landing on a broken link can be frustrating, a growing body of research has identified…

Dec 1, 2013 9:40 AM CST

Dec. 4, 1875: Boss Tweed escapes

Tammany Hall, so named for its 14th Street meeting place, was from 1858 the domain of William Magear “Boss” Tweed, the famously corrupt head of New York City’s Democratic Party machine. Tweed rose during one term in the U.S. Congress to become infinitely more powerful as grand sachem of the…

Dec 1, 2013 7:09 AM CST

3 men convicted in infamous ‘Scottsboro Boys’ case are pardoned by Alabama parole board

Closing a chapter in a criminal case that is considered symbolic of racial injustice in the early decades of the 20th Century, the Alabama parole board Thursday granted posthumous pardons to three black men who were convicted by all-white juries of a rape that apparently never occurred in a case…

Nov 21, 2013 6:03 PM CST

50 years after assassination of President Kennedy, experts debate exactly who was to blame

Almost 50 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as he was traveling through Dallas in an open car as part of a motorcade on Nov. 22, 1963, there is still disagreement about who was responsible for the crime that shocked the country. The Warren Commission said Lee…

Nov 21, 2013 12:46 AM CST

10 trials that changed the world

At their best, trials provide insight into the human condition while they illuminate principles of the law. And sometimes they even change the course of history.

Is it any wonder that, at least in the public’s mind, trial lawyers are the superstars of the legal profession?

Nov 1, 2013 2:51 PM CDT

God punishes Adam and Eve, and the Serpent

This is an entry in the cover feature 10 trials that changed the world. Two of the earliest legal proceedings in the Western canon—God’s biblical condemnation of Adam and Eve to a mortal life of suffering, and the trial of Socrates—raise questions of how ignorance should be punished that are…

Nov 1, 2013 10:24 AM CDT

Parliament puts King Charles I on trial

This is an entry in the cover feature 10 trials that changed the world. Less than 50 years after the death of Elizabeth I brought the Tudor dynasty to a close, the British monarchy, now in the hands of the Stuarts, was in serious conflict with Parliament. While Charles I,…

Nov 1, 2013 10:20 AM CDT

Susan B. Anthony is convicted for casting a ballot

This is an entry in the cover feature 10 trials that changed the world. On Nov. 1, 1872, Susan B. Anthony and her three sisters walked into a voter registration office in Rochester, N.Y., and demanded to be registered. Even though suffrage for women was not recognized in the United…

Nov 1, 2013 10:15 AM CDT

Clarence Darrow is tried on charges of bribing jurors

This is an entry in the cover feature 10 trials that changed the world. In the early 1900s, violent labor actions by management (often with the support of local police and state militia) and by workers were taking place across the United States. At 1 a.m. on Oct. 1, 1910,…

Nov 1, 2013 10:10 AM CDT

A court decides who is white under the law

This is an entry in the cover feature 10 trials that changed the world. Discrimination against Arab-Americans is widespread in the post-9/11 era, yet federal law does not generally recognize them as a group entitled to access to remedies for mistreatment. This dilemma is reflected in the fact that the…

Nov 1, 2013 10:05 AM CDT

An Allied tribunal brings Nazi leaders to account at Nuremberg

This is an entry in the cover feature 10 trials that changed the world. If Winston Churchill had gotten his way, the Nuremberg Trials never would have taken place. His preferred method for dealing with captured Nazi leaders at the end of World War II was to line them up…

Nov 1, 2013 10:00 AM CDT

The Supreme Court rejects the separate but equal doctrine

The U.S. Supreme Court’s two decisions in Brown v. Board of Education were the culmination of years of effort by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and numerous individuals who courageously served as plaintiffs in cases filed around the United States. The primary target of this effort…

Nov 1, 2013 9:55 AM CDT

Adolf Eichmann is convicted for his role in the ‘Final Solution’

This is an entry in the cover feature 10 trials that changed the world. Prior to 1945, the principle of state sovereignty trumped all else in international law. It was not until the Nuremberg Trials that the paradigm of state immunity and individual accountability began to shift in a meaningful…

Nov 1, 2013 9:50 AM CDT