CIA leak probe could be nearing end, lawyers say News
CIA leak probe could be nearing end, lawyers say

[JURIST] Lawyers close to the investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity [JURIST news archive] say the 20-month probe may be reaching an end in the coming weeks. New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been jailed since July 6 [JURIST report] for refusing to testify before the grand jury investigating the leak. Her time at the Alexandria Detention Facility [official website] in Virginia marks the longest any journalist has ever served to protect a source. A Justice Department prosecutor said there have been no public discussions to get her testimony, and Miller's lawyer declined to say if Miller had talked with her source about revealing his or her identity. TIME Magazine reporter Matthew Cooper testified that his source was White House adviser Karl Rove after getting permission from Rove himself. If Miller never testifies, should could go free in October when the grand jury's term expires. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.