US DOJ schedules three more executions in lame-duck period in face of Biden objections News
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US DOJ schedules three more executions in lame-duck period in face of Biden objections

The US Department of Justice Friday scheduled three more executions of federal prison inmates during the lame-duck period before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20, adding to two previously scheduled for December that have not yet taken place. Since US Attorney-General William Barr announced the resumption of federal executions this past July after a 17-year long hiatus, a total eight federal executions have been carried out.

The executions of Alfred Bourgeois, Cory Johnson and Dustin Higgs are slated for December 11th, and January 14th and 15th respectively. Bourgeois sexually molested, tortured and murdered his two and a half-year-old daughter; Johnson, a cocaine dealer, was convicted for multiple murders; Higgs was convicted for ordering the murder of 3 women in 1996.

Biden has repeatedly spoken out against the federal use of capital punishment. During the 2020 election campaign he pledged to work on federal legislation to eliminate the death penalty.

 

THIS DAY @ LAW

Czar Alexander II assassinated

On March 13, 1881, revolutionaries assassinated Russian Tsar Alexander II. The terrorist organization Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) hoped to spark a revolution by assassinating the monarch. Instead, Alexander II's assassination led to a repressive backlash from his successor, Alexander III. Read an account of the assassination of Tsar Alexander II by anarchist revolutionary Peter Kropotkin.

Tennessee banned the teaching of evolution

On March 13, 1925, Tennessee passed a law banning the teaching of evolution in schools. The violation of this law by a local schoolteacher resulted in the famous "Scopes Monkey Trial." Learn more about The State v. John Scopes.