Five judges elected to International Court of Justice News
Five judges elected to International Court of Justice

[JURIST] Members of the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly elected five judges [UN press release] to the fifteen member International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] Monday. The ICJ is the UN's highest court and settles disputes between governments and issues advisory opinions on topics presented by UN bodies. American Thomas Buergenthal [official profile], a professor of international law and a former judge of the Inter-American human rights court was reelected to his second term. New judges include: Mohamed Bennouna [profile] from Morocco, Kenneth Keith [profile] from New Zealand, Bernardo Sepulveda Amor [profile] of Mexico, and Leonid Skotnikov of Russia. Each judge will serve a nine-year term and cannot hold another office during that time. No two judges can come from the same home country and efforts are taken to ensure that the primary world legal systems are represented. The ICJ Rules of Court [text] has more information on the election of judges. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Indian National Congress founded

The Indian National Congress (INC) was founded on December 28, 1885 in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. In subsequent decades, the so-called Congress Party would advocate for Indian independence from the UK, which was eventually achieved in 1947. The first Prime Minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was elected as a member of the INC. Learn more about the history and founding of the Indian National Congress.

Congress recognized Pledge of Allegiance

On December 28, 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance and encouraged its recitation in schools. The Pledge was supposedly written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus Day. The words “under God” were added by Congress in 1954. The revised version of the Pledge was the subject of litigation before the United States Supreme Court originally brought by Michael Newdow, a parent who unsuccessfully objected to his daughter's school district policy requiring daily recitation of the Pledge. The court ruled that Newdow had no standing.

Nepal ends monarchy, establishes republic

On December 28, 2007, the Kingdom of Nepal's interim parliament ended the country's monarchy and established the Republic of Nepal. Free elections were held on April 10 of the following year to elect a Constituent Assembly.

Learn more about the rise of democracy in Nepal.