*On this date in 2012, an international court trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor ended.
learn more*On this date in 2013, Shelby County v. Holder was decided. This was a landmark United States Supreme Court case. It regarded the constitutionality of two provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965: Section 5, which requires certain states and local governments to obtain federal preclearance before implementing any changes to their voting laws or practices, and Section 4(b), which […]
learn more*On this date in 2013 a Sanford, Florida jury found George Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin. This was a case that sparked a national debate on race and guns.
learn more*On this date in 2014, New York City agreed to a $40 million settlement with five men who were falsely convicted in the vicious rape and beating of a Central Park jogger in 1989. The agreement still needs the approval of the city comptroller and a federal judge.
learn more*On this date in 2016, Philando Castile was murdered. He was a 32-year-old Black man fatally shot during a traffic stop by Jeronimo Yanez, a 28-year-old Latino police officer from St. Anthony, Minnesota. Castile was driving with his partner, Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old daughter when, at 9:00 p.m., Yanez and another officer in […]
learn more*On this date in 2018, Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute was decided. This case was before the United States Supreme Court regarding Ohio’s voter registration laws. Ohio law provides a process to remove an inactive voter from its list of registered voters. After a two-year break from certain voting activities specified by Ohio law (i.e., filing […]
learn more*On this date in 2018, the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act was passed. This was a proposed bill to classify lynching (defined as bodily injury based on perceived race, color, religion, or nationality) as a federal hate crime in the United States. The largely symbolic bill aimed to recognize and apologize for historical governmental […]
learn more*On this date in 2022, The Emmett Till Antilynching Act was passed. This legislation was a landmark United States federal law that makes lynching a federal hate crime. The bill was named after 14-year-old Emmett Till, lynched in Mississippi in 1955, sparking national and international outrage. Representative Bobby Rush introduced H.R. 35 on January 3, 2019, during the […]
learn more*On this date in 2022, the Senate voted 53 to 47 to confirm the first Black woman to the United States Supreme Court. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson received more than enough support from both legislative chambers for the confirmation. To Become a Lawyer To become a Judge
learn more*On this date in 2022, a 1947 Freedom Riders conviction was officially vacated. “We failed these men,” said Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour, who presided over the special session and at one point paused to gather himself after becoming emotional. “We failed their cause, and we failed to deliver justice in our community,” Baddour said. “And for […]
learn more*On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in admissions decisions at public and private universities. The opinion reversed a longstanding precedent that allowed universities some leeway to consider an applicant’s race to better balance student bodies. The court’s conservative majority effectively overturned cases that lasted 45 years, invalidating admissions plans […]
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