Mistaken Madrid bombings arrest of Portland lawyer goes to trial

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Mistaken Madrid bombings arrest of Portland lawyer goes to trial

July 15, 2005 08:30:00 am

[JURIST] Brandon Mayfield [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive], a Portland lawyer and Muslim convert, returns to a federal courthouse in Portland Friday for a pretrial hearing in his civil lawsuit against the US government. A little over a year ago Mayfield was arrested as a suspect in the Madrid train bombings [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] that killed 191 people. The FBI originally claimed that his fingerprints were found on a bag of detonators near the scene but later backpedaled and apologized [FBI press release], admitting the prints didn't match, and blaming its make on faulty analysis. Mayfield, who has never traveled to Spain, claims he was pursued because of his faith and is challenging key portions of the Patriot Act [text] that allow wiretaps and clandestine home searches as unconstitutional. The US Department of Justice is seeking to dismiss the parts of the lawsuit challenging the Act. AP has more.

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.

Justice Samuel Chase impeached

On November 30, 1804, US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial in the Senate for "arbitrary and oppressive conduct of trials." He was acquitted in March 1805. Read a C-SPAN interview with Chief Justice William Rehnquist on his 1992 book Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson. Review a chronological list of impeachments of federal judges.