Los Angeles homeless ordinance constitutionality ruling [9th Circuit] News
Los Angeles homeless ordinance constitutionality ruling [9th Circuit]

Jones v. City of Los Angeles, US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, April 14, 2009 [holding that a Los Angeles ordinance that subjects the homeless to arrest if they are caught "sitting, lying or sleeping on public sidewalks" violates the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment found in the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution]. Excerpt:

We hold only that, just as the Eighth Amendment prohibits the infliction of criminal punishment on an individual for being a drug addict, Robinson, 370 U.S. at 667; or for involuntary public drunkenness that is an unavoidable consequence of being a chronic alcoholic without a home, Powell, 392 U.S. at 551 (White, J., concurring in the judgment); id. at 568 n.31 (Fortas, J., dissenting); the Eighth Amendment prohibits the City from punishing involuntary sitting, lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks that is an unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless without shelter in the City of Los Angeles.

Read the full text of the majority decision [PDF] and dissent [PDF]. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Trial of Saddam Hussein begins

On October 19, 2005, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was put on trial for crimes against humanity committed during his time in office. He was convicted and sentenced to death on November 6, 2006. The execution took place on the following December 30. Learn more about the Trial of Saddam Hussein from the US Law Library of Congress.

Stamp Act Congress approved Declaration of Rights

On October 19, 1765, the Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York in the wake of Parliament's passage of the controversial Stamp Act imposing a tax for the upkeep of British troops in North America, approved a Declaration of Rights enumerating the rights and grievances of the American colonies.