BREAKING NEWS ~ Judge denies government bid to set Moussaoui trial date News
BREAKING NEWS ~ Judge denies government bid to set Moussaoui trial date

[JURIST] US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema Thursday denied a US government motion to set a trial date in its case against Zacarias Moussaoui. Brinkema stated in her decision [PDF] that her original order [PDF] entered on November 5, 2003 staying the case will remain in effect. Moussaoui, a French citizen, is charged with conspiring with al-Qaida terrorists to carry out the 9/11 attacks; his lawyers had opposed bringing the case to trial while they attempt to appeal pretrial issues to the US Supreme Court. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia provides materials on the Moussaoui proceedings online. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the Moussaoui case here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.