DC Circuit to hear military commissions appeal News
DC Circuit to hear military commissions appeal

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit hears arguments Thursday on the legality of military commission trials of terror suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base [official website]. Last November, US District Judge James Robertson ordered military commissions to come to a halt [PDF text], saying their procedures were unlawful. The government counters that Judge Robertson's ruling intrudes upon the executive's power to defend the United States. The ruling was initially made after a legal challenge was brought by Salim Ahmed Hamdan, allegedly the personal driver of Osama bin Laden's [wikipedia profile]. As a terror suspect without POW status, the US has repeatedly refused to give Hamdan a court-martial in military court which allows the defendant to be present during the entire trial. Under the military commission rules [DOD informational website], Hamdan would be barred from the part of the trial while the government presents classified evidence against him. The case is Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 04-5393. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.