US refuses Venezuelan request to extradite Cuban bombing suspect News
US refuses Venezuelan request to extradite Cuban bombing suspect

[JURIST] The Bush administration Friday refused a request to extradite Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela, citing inadequate supporting evidence. Carriles is suspected of bombing a plane carrying 73 people to Caracas and has been charged by US authorities [JURIST report] for entering the country illegally. The request had been a source of conflict between the US and the leftist government of Hugo Chavez, a close ally of Cuba. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.