Senate hearing set for Feingold resolution censuring Bush for surveillance News
Senate hearing set for Feingold resolution censuring Bush for surveillance

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] has scheduled a hearing [notice] for Friday, March 31 on a resolution [text, PDF] introduced by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) [official website] censuring President Bush for allegedly breaking the law with his warrantless domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. Feingold introduced the censure resolution [JURIST report] in early March, but it received only a lukewarm reception [JURIST report] from fellow Senate Democrats. Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website] says he wants to explore the issues surrounding the proposed censure, but does not intend to turn the session into a political forum, adding that he believes the censure proposal is baseless. Feingold had said that if the Judiciary Committee did not deal with the resolution "expeditiously", he would reintroduce it in the full Senate.

Some Republicans insist that the censure plan indicates that Democrats will attempt to take action against President Bush if they gain control of either the House or the Senate in the upcoming 2006 Congressional elections. The New York Times has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

US Supreme Court ruled Indians not US citizens

On November 3, 1884, the US Supreme Court ruled in Elk v. Wilkins that John Elk, an American Indian who had tried to vote in a federal election in Omaha, Nebraska, was not a US citizen entitled to the protection of the 14th and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution. Native Americans became eligible for citizenship in 1887 under the Dawes Act, but only in 1924, under the Indian Citizenship Act, were all Native Americans born in the US made citizens.

Last public execution at Tyburn Gallows in London

On November 3, 1783, the last public execution took place at Tyburn Gallows in London, when John Austin was hanged for highway robbery. From the hanging of William Fitz Osburn in 1196 until Austin's execution, Tyburn served as London's primary location for public executions.

Learn more about the trial of John Austin.