Most counts of New Hampshire GOP phone jamming lawsuit dismissed News
Most counts of New Hampshire GOP phone jamming lawsuit dismissed

[JURIST] A New Hampshire judge on Thursday dismissed 5 of 8 counts in a lawsuit brought by Democrats against Republicans after the jamming of Democratic phone lines in the 2002 Senate race [Wikipedia backgrounder] between Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) [official website] and Democratic challenger Jeanne Shaheen. Sununu won the race by less than five percentage points. Republicans applauded the ruling as discrediting most of the Democrats' complaints while Democrats expressed pleasure that the counts dealing with phone system interference and involving compensation were proceeding.

Last month James Tobin [SourceWatch profile], President Bush's 2004 campaign chairman for New England, was sentenced to 10 months in prison [US DOJ press release] after being convicted [US DOJ press release] in December for his involvement in jamming the phone lines to block Democratic voting drives [JURIST report]. AP has more. The Manchester Union Leader has local coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.