Arkansas judge rules ban on gay foster parents unconstitutional News
Arkansas judge rules ban on gay foster parents unconstitutional

[JURIST] Arkansas Circuit Judge Timothy Fox Wednesday declared that a state ban on placing foster children in a household with a gay member was unconstitutional. The Arkansas chapter of the ACLU brought the case, challenging a 1999 regulation that stated that gays cannot become foster parents, and foster children cannot be placed in any home with a gay household member. The judge found that the regulation did not accomplish the goal of the state Child Welfare Agency Review Board, which is to promote health, safety, and welfare of the child. Instead, he concluded that the regulation sought to regulate public morality, which was outside the boundaries of the agency. Read the decision here. AP has more. The ACLU offers additional material.

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.