Commentaries by Gwendolyn Devoy

Amending Australia’s Constitution to Create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament: Challenges Ahead

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Amending Australia’s Constitution to Create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament: Challenges Ahead

Gwendolyn Devoy

February 1, 2023 07:37:27 am

In 2017, 250 First Nations people gathered together from across Australia to draft and sign the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The Uluru Statement proposed a First Nations Voice to Parliament, a body to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution that would enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to provide advice to the Parliament [...]

THIS DAY @ LAW

First impeachment trial began in US Senate

On December 17, 1798, the US Senate began its first impeachment trial. Senator William Blount of Tennessee, a land speculator, was accused of plotting with England to wrest control of Florida from Spain. The Senate ultimately dismissed the charges for lack of jurisdiction—and, perhaps incidentally, lack of Blount, who had gone to Tennessee and had refused to return to the Senate for trial. Read more on the trial of William Blount.

Simon Bolivar dies

On December 17, 1830, South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar died in Colombia. During his lifetime, Bolivar led successful revolutions against Spanish colonial rule throughout South America. His efforts led to the independence of the modern-day nations of Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador and Bolivia, a nation named in his honor.