Alabama AG trying to block release of Wallace shooter from Maryland prison News
Alabama AG trying to block release of Wallace shooter from Maryland prison

[JURIST] The Alabama Attorney General's office [official report] said Friday that Attorney General Troy King would try to prevent the early release [JURIST report] from a Maryland state prison of Arthur Bremer [PBS profile], the man who shot ex-Alabama Governor George Wallace [ADAH profile] in 1972 during his independent presidential campaign, leaving him paralyzed for life. Bremer has served 35 years of a 53-year sentence and under Maryland state law is entitled to early release no later than mid-December because he has earned sufficient credits for good behavior. Maryland officials say an Alabama effort to halt the release is unlikely to succeed in the face of Maryland rules.

Bremer has never expressed any remorse for the shooting, calling Wallace a "segregationist dinosaur." In his diary, Bremer wrote that his primary motivation for the shooting was not opposition to Wallace's pro-segregation politics, but a desire to become notorious. AP 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.