Arraignment postponed for Colombian drug kingpin News
Arraignment postponed for Colombian drug kingpin

[JURIST] US District Judge Federico Moreno Tuesday postponed the arraignment of Cali drug kingpin Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela until Jan. 28, 2005, giving his attorney time to persuade the Treasury Department to allow Orejuela's assets to pay for his legal defense fees. While attorney Jose Quinon plans to defend Orejuela's plea of innocence to charges of cocaine smuggling and money laundering, he must first clarify the status of Orejuela's assets previously frozen by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. A Treasury department spokeswoman commented that the OFAC has granted licenses in similar cases where the money would be used for legitimate purposes. Orejuela, 65, was extradited to the US earlier this month and is currently jailed in Miami. JURIST's Paper Chase has coverage of the extradition here. Rodriguez and brother Miguel are accused to have produced 80 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the US during the 1990s. 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.