Mugabe approves controversial changes to Zimbabwe constitution News
Mugabe approves controversial changes to Zimbabwe constitution

[JURIST] Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe [Wikipedia backgrounder] has approved amendments to the country's constitution [JURIST report; constitution text] that allow the government to nationalize white-owned farms and impose travel bans on those deemed anti-government. Critics say the land-law changes will prevent white farmers from being able to challenge any property seizure of their land while the travel bans function as a tool to suppress opposition to the President's rule. Mugabe has been in power for 25 years and Zimbabwe's economic crisis has been blamed on his reign. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change [Contemporary Africa Database profile] has called the amendments "a serious assault on citizens' basic rights and freedoms." 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.