Hicks seeks injunction to delay Guantanamo trial News
Hicks seeks injunction to delay Guantanamo trial

[JURIST] Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] has filed for an injunction to delay his military trial currently scheduled to start March 20 [JURIST report]. Maj. Michael Mori, Hicks' Pentagon-appointed lawyer, said Saturday that Hicks' defense team asked the US District Court in Washington last week to order the suspension of Hicks' military commission [JURIST news archive], even though he admitted the bid will likely be unsuccessful. The injunction bid was made in parallel with an appeal by other Guantanamo inmates to the US Supreme Court [Reuters report], asking for the right to challenge their detention in US courts.

US military prosecutors have charged Hicks with providing material support to terrorists [JURIST report]. He is expected to plead not guilty. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

USSR established

On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.