Appeals court strikes down Virginia late-term abortion ban News
Appeals court strikes down Virginia late-term abortion ban

[JURIST] A panel of the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] Friday struck down [PDF opinion] a Virginia law prohibiting a controversial late-term partial-birth abortion procedure, finding it unconstitutional because it lacks an exception to protect a woman's health. The 2-1 decision upheld a 2003 ruling finding the law "unconstitutional on its face." In a pointed dissent Judge Paul V. Niemeyer declared that the majority's decision, "in essence, constitutionalizes infanticide of the most gruesome nature." A spokesperson for the Center for Reproductive Rights [advocacy website] in New York hailed the decision [press release] as correctly following Supreme Court precedent and placing high value on the health of women. The Washington Post has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Tojo and other Japanese WWII leaders executed for war crimes

On December 23, 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed for war crimes in Tokyo.

Learn more about the Tokyo War Crimes Trials.

Terry Nichols convicted for Oklahoma City bombing

On December 23, 1997, Terry Nichols was found guilty of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter for assisting Timothy McVeigh in bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. He was later sentenced to life in prison. On April 19, 1995, McVeigh detonated a truck bomb that gutted the building and killed 168 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack on US. soil until the attacks of September 11, 2001. McVeigh was convicted for his role before Nichols on June 2, 1997. Learn more about the trials of Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh.