Ruling on US gun ownership by persons with foreign criminal convictions [US SC] News
Ruling on US gun ownership by persons with foreign criminal convictions [US SC]

Small v. US, Supreme Court of the United States, April 26, 2005 [ruling that persons convicted of a crime in a foreign country may own a gun in the US]. Excerpt from the opinion by Justice Breyer:

…foreign convictions differ from domestic convictions in important ways. Past foreign convictions for crimes punishable by more than one year's imprisonment may include a conviction for conduct that domestic laws would permit, for example, for engaging in economic conduct that our society might encourage. See, e.g., Art. 153 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, in Soviet Criminal Law and Procedure 171 (H. Berman & J. Spindler transls. 2d ed. 1972) (criminalizing "Private Entrepreneurial Activity"); Art. 153, id., at 172 (criminalizing "Speculation," which is defined as "the buying up and reselling of goods or any other articles for the purpose of making a profit"); cf. e.g., Gaceta Oficial de la Republica de Cuba, ch. II, Art. 103, p. 68 (Dec. 30, 1987) (forbidding propaganda that incites against the social order, international solidarity, or the Communist State). They would include a conviction from a legal system that is inconsistent with an American understanding of fairness.

Read the opinion [PDF]. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Anglo-Irish Treaty ratified

On January 7, 1922, Dáil Éireann ratified the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Signed on December 6 of the preceding year, the treaty ended the Irish War of Independence against Great Britain. The British Parliament voted to approve the treaty on December 16, 1921. Ratification was completed on January 14, 1922, when the House of Commons of Southern Ireland became the third and final party to approve the document. The Anglo-Irish treaty effectively split the island into its current state. While the lower counties of Ireland were granted autonomy under the treaty, Britain insisted that the six Protestant counties of Northern Ireland be allowed to determine their own future. On the day after the treaty was signed, these counties elected to remain part of Great Britain. Today, they remain part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

New York State Assembly expels five socialist assemblymen

The New York State Assembly, the state's lower house, expelled five duly elected assemblymen from the Socialist Party over their political affiliation on January 7, 1920. The US was in the midst of the first Red Scare, a panic resulting from the ascendancy of the Bolsheviks in Russia, which resulted in the repression of socialists across the country. The result of the expulsion vote was 140-6. Thus, Assemblymen August Claessens, Samuel A. DeWitt, Samuel Orr, Charles Solomon and Louis Waldman were removed from their posts. Learn more about the expulsions from the Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York.

Rehnquist sworn in as US Supreme Court Justice

On January 7, 1972, the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist was sworn in as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Read a short profile of Chief Justice Rehnquist here.