House Republicans back down from across-the-board ban on women in combat News
House Republicans back down from across-the-board ban on women in combat

[JURIST] Republicans on the US House Armed Services Committee [official website] early Thursday backed off on an amendment to a defense bill that would have further limited women's participation in military operations, instead adopting the language of a Pentagon policy that bans women from direct ground combat roles. The amendment [PDF Washington Post report] would have banned women from support units [AP report] as well. Committee Democrats [PDF letter opposing amendment], as well as the Army, said the original amendment was too broad and would have negative effects. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.