FBI says no federal civil rights charges to be filed in 1955 Till case News
FBI says no federal civil rights charges to be filed in 1955 Till case

[JURIST] No federal civil rights charges will be filed in the 1955 killing of Emmett Till [JURIST news archive], according to an FBI statement [text] issued Thursday citing the expiration of a five year statute of limitations. Till, a 14-year old African American boy, was brutally beaten and shot for allegedly whistling at a white woman. The case was originally tried [PBS trial overview] in 1955 with an all-white jury acquitting the two white suspects. The two men, who have since died, later confessed [Look interview] to the crime. Following a probe of investigative errors, the US Justice Department [official website] re-opened the case in 2005. The Till case leads a series of attempts by federal law enforcement authorities to settle unfinished civil rights cases. The Till file has been turned over to a local district attorney, who may still file state charges. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.