DOJ white paper: President authorized to conduct warrantless wiretaps News
DOJ white paper: President authorized to conduct warrantless wiretaps

[JURIST] The US Justice Department [official website] Thursday released [letter to Senate Majority Leader, PDF] a 42-page white paper [text, PDF] laying out a legal basis for the domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] run by the National Security Agency [official website]. The paper argues that the NSA activities are supported by the president's position as Commander in Chief and congressional authorization for the war on al Qaeda under the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force, and moreover "fall within a well-established exception to the warrant requirement and [satisfy] the Fourth Amendment's fundamental requirement of reasonableness." The white paper comes ahead of Congressional hearings into the legality of the program and follows the release earlier this month of a report [PDF] by the Congressional Research Service [official website] suggesting that the legal justification of the program "does not seem to be as well-grounded" [JURIST report] as the administration had asserted [JURIST document] in a prior analysis. The New York Times has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.