ACLU challenges Boston airport security program over alleged racial profiling News
ACLU challenges Boston airport security program over alleged racial profiling

[JURIST] The ACLU has sued MA police and port authority over a new security program at Boston's Logan International Airport, which the civil rights group claims leads to racial profiling. In the suit filed Wednesday, the ACLU argues that the "behavior pattern recognition" used by security at the airport "condones and encourages" racial profiling. State police said the program does not use profiling, instead focusing on travelers' behavior, such as loitering without luggage or watching how security in the airport operates. Police said the training program emphasized avoiding profiling. The suit was brought on behalf of the ALCU's coordinator for racial profiling, King Downing, who claims he was harassed by police there last year. Read the ACLU press release, and access the complaint. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.