Deeksha Pokhriyal and Aviral Agrawal Archives - JURIST - Commentary

Commentaries by Deeksha Pokhriyal and Aviral Agrawal

Decongesting Prisons and the Violation of Human Rights

May 9, 2020 12:43:38 am

Introduction When the world started its global fight against the novel Coronavirus, Covid-19, immediate measures were the need of the hour. The spread of the virus was rampant. The first case of Covid-19 was reported in Wuhan, China during the month of December, 2019. Initially, China declared it to be a case of unusual pneumonia [...]

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FDR proposed 'court-packing' plan

On February 5, 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, frustrated with the US Supreme Court's treatment of some of his economic reforms, proposed a plan to add judges to that and other federal courts whenever a sitting judge reached the age of seventy but declined to retire. Critics accused Roosevelt of indulging in autocracy and "court-packing." Review the text of Roosevelt's "fireside chat" on the proposal from March 9, 1937. Roosevelt eventually dropped the initiative but was nonetheless able to fill seven vacancies on the Court over the next four years, achieving his goal indirectly.

Panamanian dictator Noriega indicted

On February 5, 1988, Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was indicted on charges of drug smuggling and money laundering. The following year, he was extradited to the United States and later sentenced to 30 years in US federal prison. In 1999, the French government requested that Noriega be extradited to France, where he had been convicted of money laundering. In that same year, the government of Panama also requested the extradition of Noriega, as a result of his 1995 conviction in absentia on murder charges.