US not planning trials for al Qaeda detainees, Negroponte says News
US not planning trials for al Qaeda detainees, Negroponte says

[JURIST] John Negroponte [official profile], director of US national intelligence, has said that the US has no immediate plans to put detained suspected senior al Qaeda members on trial. In a speech [prepared remarks] Thursday commemorating the first anniversary of the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence [official website; JURIST report], Negroponte stressed the importance of intelligence provided by the detainees, saying that "At some point, it may prove desirable that they be brought to prosecution, to face justice. But that is something that I think will have to be decided in the future."

If the US does decide to try the detainees it could be under the system of military commissions [JURIST news archive] currently being challenged by Osama bin Laden's personal driver in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [Duke Law backgrounder; merit briefs]. The US Supreme Court [official website] heard arguments in the case last month and most of the eight justices participating appeared skeptical [JURIST report] of the government's arguments in support of the tribunals. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in Six Days' War

On November 22, 1967, the UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied during the Six Days' War, and for respect of the right of all States in the area to "live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries." Read Resolution 242, which remains a cornerstone of efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.

President Kennedy assassinated, VP Lyndon Johnson sworn inin

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Later that day, Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States. Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was later tasked with leading a commission to investigate the assassination. President Johnson received the final report of the Warren Commission on September 24, 1964. Read the Warren Commission Report.