John H. Blume Archives - JURIST - Commentary

Commentaries by John H. Blume

Putting the 2016 Capital Punishment Ballot Initiatives in Perspective

November 17, 2016 01:47:12 pm

JURIST Guest Columnist John H. Blume of Cornell Law School discusses the current state of the death penalty in the United States...On November 8th, voters in three states endorsed "pro-death penalty" measures. In Nebraska, an initiative asking voters to reinstate...

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French novelist defended Dreyfus in open letter

On January 13, 1898, the French journalist and novelist Emile Zola published an open letter entitled J'accuse in defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army who had been dubiously convicted of spying. Learn more about the Dreyfus Affair. Sentenced to prison for libel, Zola fled to England; he was granted amnesty and returned to France, but died of carbon monoxide poisoning before Dreyfus was exonerated.

Douglas Wilder takes office as first elected black governor

On January 13, 1990, Lawrence Douglas Wilder was sworn in as the governor of Virginia by former US Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell. Wilder was the first African-American to be elected governor of a U.S. state. He would also serve as Mayor of Richmond, the state's capital city, from 2005 through 2009. Learn more about the life and career of Douglas Wilder.