Legal challenges expected to gay marriage bans News
Legal challenges expected to gay marriage bans

[JURIST] After 11 states voted Tuesday for bans on gay marriage, civil rights groups wasted no time Wednesday preparing legal challenges. Karl Olson, executive director of the gay-rights group PRIDE in Montana, said that this vote was only a "blip" in history, adding that the Constitution "isn’t going to be able to sustain this kind of restriction on civil rights.” Lambda Legal Defense Fund has already announced plans to file lawsuits challenging the states' new amendments, saying that these states have in fact written anti-gay discrimination into their laws. Gay marriage proponents are not, however, optimistic on the suits' success. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Montgomery started racially-integrated bus service after boycott

On December 21, 1956, buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. Bus boycott leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were among the first riders under the new scheme. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Stalin born

On December 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia. In 1922, he became leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. During his time as Soviet dictator, Stalin industrialized his country, which he then led to become one of the world's two superpowers after WWII. Through his infamous purges, show trials and nationwide famines, Stalin also became responsible for millions of deaths.