Judge uses new discretion to reduce sentences of "Virginia Jihad" convicts News
Judge uses new discretion to reduce sentences of "Virginia Jihad" convicts

[JURIST] US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema [official profile] reduced the sentences Friday of three Virginia men convicted of participating in terror training. Brinkeme had been required to sentence members of the "Virginia Jihad" to lengthy prison terms she had called excessive before the Supreme Court's ruling in United States v. Booker [PDF] invalidated mandatory sentencing guidelines. She reduced two sentences by 20 years, and a third by roughly four years. The terms for the three men on firearms counts were Congressionally imposed and thus were not reduced, leaving prison terms at a level Brinkema still described as "really draconian". The Washington Post has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.