Virginia partial-birth abortion ban ruling [4th Circuit] News
Virginia partial-birth abortion ban ruling [4th Circuit]

Richmond Medical Center for Women v. Herring, US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, May 20, 2008 [holding that a Virginia law banning certain types of partial-birth abortions is unconstitutional]. Read the full text of the opinion [text, PDF]. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Eighteenth Amendment came into effect

On January 16, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution came into effect as scheduled one year after ratification, marking the beginning of Prohibition. Learn more about Temperance and Prohibition from Professor K. Austin Kerr of the Ohio State University Department of History.

English Parliament bans Roman Catholicism

On January 16, 1581, the English Parliament banned Roman Catholicism throughout the country during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. From that time on, Catholicism declined in England until the Catholic Emancipation of the late 18th century.

Read the history of the Roman Catholic Church in England.