Imprisoned Palestinian seeks to replace Arafat News
Imprisoned Palestinian seeks to replace Arafat

[JURIST] The imprisoned leader of Palestinian uprisings, Marwan Barghouti, has decided to run in the upcoming Palestinian elections to replace Yasser Arafat. A source close to the jailed politician said Barghouti would seek the position of president only with the backing of the ruling Fatah movement. Barghouti is serving multiple life sentences in an Israeli prison for his involvement in terrorist attacks that took the lives of five Israeli citizens. Palestinian law stipulates that elections are to be held within two months to find a replacement leader and Palestinian officials have stated that they seek a smooth democratic transition. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.