Mukasey meets with Iraq officials on rule of law efforts News
Mukasey meets with Iraq officials on rule of law efforts

[JURIST] US Attorney General Michael Mukasey [official profile; JURIST news archive] discussed ongoing DOJ efforts to promote the rule of law in Iraq [press release; fact sheet, PDF] during his first official trip to Baghdad Wednesday. Mukasey met with three high ranking judiciary officials, including the head of Iraq's Higher Judicial Council Chief Judge Medhat al-Mahmoud, to discuss US efforts to aid in the establishment of an independent Iraqi judiciary. AP has more.

US efforts to establish the rule of law in Iraq have met with some criticism. In November 2007, a delegation of lawyers from the Iraqi bar association hand-delivered a letter [JURIST report] to several US lawmakers that criticized the US government for not devoting adequate financial resources to ensure the rule of law in Iraq. Last week, a former senior advisor for legislative framework in the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office told US Ambassador Ryan Crocker in a memo [PDF text; JURIST report] that US officials in the country had "mostly ignored legal culture institutions that address underlying requirements for the very success of the rule of law."

THIS DAY @ LAW

US Supreme Court ruled Indians not US citizens

On November 3, 1884, the US Supreme Court ruled in Elk v. Wilkins that John Elk, an American Indian who had tried to vote in a federal election in Omaha, Nebraska, was not a US citizen entitled to the protection of the 14th and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution. Native Americans became eligible for citizenship in 1887 under the Dawes Act, but only in 1924, under the Indian Citizenship Act, were all Native Americans born in the US made citizens.

Last public execution at Tyburn Gallows in London

On November 3, 1783, the last public execution took place at Tyburn Gallows in London, when John Austin was hanged for highway robbery. From the hanging of William Fitz Osburn in 1196 until Austin's execution, Tyburn served as London's primary location for public executions.

Learn more about the trial of John Austin.