Minimum Competence

This Day in Legal History: Guiteau Stands Trial for Assassination On November 14, 1881, Charles Guiteau stood trial for assassinating President James A. Garfield. Garfield had been shot by Guiteau in July of that year but succumbed to his injuries months later, largely due to medical mismanagement. At the time, sterilization practices were not widely understood or practiced, and Garfield’s doctors...

This Day in Legal History: SCOTUS Ends Bus Segregation On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court took a pivotal stand against racial segregation by refusing to hear the appeal in Browder v. Gayle , a landmark case challenging bus segregation laws in Alabama. This action upheld a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, which had declared state and local bus segreg...

This Day in Legal History: WTC Bombers Convicted On November 12, 1997, Ramzi Yousef and two of his accomplices were convicted for their roles in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, marking a significant legal milestone in U.S. counterterrorism efforts. The bombing, which took place on February 26, 1993, involved a truck bomb detonated in the North Tower's underground parking garage, killin...

This Day in Legal History: Lockerbie Bombing Indictments On November 11, 1991, indictments were formally announced in the notorious Lockerbie bombing case, marking a significant milestone in international criminal justice. U.S. and U.K. prosecutors indicted two Libyan nationals—Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah—in connection with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The attac...

This Day in Legal History: Beer Hall Putsch On November 8, 1923, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party launched a failed coup known as the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, Germany. Hitler, alongside other far-right leaders, sought to overthrow the Weimar Republic by forcibly taking control of the Bavarian government and inspiring a national revolution. The plan was set into motion when Hitler and his support...

This Day in Legal History: FDR Wins Fourth Term On November 7, 1944, Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States, solidifying his role as a defining leader during one of the nation's most challenging periods. First elected in 1932, Roosevelt took office at the height of the Great Depression and implemented the New Deal to revive the struggling economy....

This Day in Legal History: New York Grants Women Right to Vote On November 6, 1917, New York became one of the first eastern states to grant women the right to vote, a pivotal victory for the suffrage movement in the United States. The state’s voters approved a constitutional amendment that extended suffrage to women, marking a significant shift in public opinion and advancing the national push fo...

This Day in Legal History: Saddam Hussein Sentenced to Death On November 5, 2006, Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, was sentenced to death by hanging by the Iraqi High Tribunal. This judgment followed a lengthy trial process in which Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity, including the 1982 mass killing of 148 Shiite Muslims in the town of Dujail. The Dujail massacre was carr...

This Day in Legal History: Massachusetts Institutes Death Penalty for Heresy On November 4, 1646, the Massachusetts General Court enacted a law that imposed the death penalty for heresy, requiring all members of the colony to affirm the Bible as the Word of God. This harsh mandate reflected the deeply religious nature of the Puritan colony, which viewed dissenting beliefs as a grave threat to its...

This Day in Legal History: NYC Rent Control On November 1, 1943, New York City implemented rent control for the first time, under the federal Office of Price Administration (OPA), in response to housing scarcity and skyrocketing rents caused by World War II. As millions flocked to urban centers for war-related jobs, New York’s housing demand surged, outpacing supply and creating a crisis of afford...

This Day in Legal History: Nevada Joins the Union by Telegraph On October 31, 1864, Nevada was admitted as the 36th state of the United States, a remarkable feat as the entire Nevada state constitution was sent to Washington, D.C. by telegraph. This move, a workaround to secure swift approval, resulted in the longest and most costly telegram of its time, spanning over 16,000 words. Nevada’s expedi...

This Day in Legal History: Lend-Lease Act On October 30, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved an unprecedented $1 billion in aid to support Allied forces fighting in World War II, marking a critical milestone under the Lend-Lease Act. This act, passed earlier in March 1941, allowed the United States to provide essential military supplies to countries whose defense was deemed vital to U.S...

This Day in Legal History: Black Tuesday On October 29, 1929, the United States experienced a significant legal and economic turning point with the stock market crash known as "Black Tuesday." This day marked the beginning of the Great Depression, a period of profound economic hardship that spurred vast changes in U.S. financial laws and regulations. The crash revealed serious flaws in the stock m...

This Day in Legal History: Volstead Act Signed On October 28, 1919, the United States Congress passed the Volstead Act, formally known as the National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. Named after Congressman Andrew Volstead, who championed it, the Act provided the legal framework to enforce the 18th Amendment, which had been ratified earlier that year. This amendment prohibit...

This Day in Legal History: First Televised Trial On October 25, 1988, New York marked a significant moment in legal and media history by televising its first-ever courtroom trial—the highly publicized murder case of Joel Steinberg. Steinberg, a disbarred attorney, was accused of the brutal abuse and subsequent death of six-year-old Lisa Steinberg, his illegally adopted daughter. Public outrage and...

This Day in Legal History: United Nations Charter Comes into Force On October 24, 1945, United Nations Day marked the formal establishment of the United Nations (UN) as the UN Charter officially came into force. The Charter had been signed a few months earlier on June 26, 1945, in San Francisco by 50 countries, laying the foundation for an international organization dedicated to peace, security, a...

This Day in Legal History: UK Parliament First Convenes On October 23, 1707, the Parliament of the United Kingdom convened for the first time in London, marking a historic moment in British governance. This event followed the formal unification of England and Scotland earlier that year under the Acts of Union 1707, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. The new Parliament was a merging of the...

This Day in Legal History: Robert Bork Nomination Rejected On October 23, 1987, the U.S. Senate rejected President Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court by a vote of 42-58. This rejection was a pivotal moment in U.S. legal and political history, marking one of the most contentious Supreme Court nomination battles. Bork, a former solicitor general and judge on the D.C. C...

This Day in Legal History: West Law Reports Published On October 21, 1876, the West Publishing Company, founded by John B. West, published its first legal reporter, The Syllabi. This marked the beginning of a transformation in how American legal professionals accessed and utilized case law. The Syllabi aimed to provide Minnesota lawyers with timely, accurate, and reliable legal information, distin...

This Day in Legal History: BBC Founded On October 18, 1922, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was founded, a significant development in media law and broadcasting regulation. The BBC was established as a private corporation, but it was under significant government oversight from the start. The British government, through the Post Office, issued the first broadcasting license to the BBC, marki...

This Day in Legal History: President Carter Restores Jefferson Davis’ Citizenship On October 17, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation restoring the U.S. citizenship of Jefferson Davis, the former president of the Confederate States of America. Davis had been stripped of his citizenship after the Civil War due to his leadership role in the Confederacy, and the move to restore it came mor...

This Day in Legal History: Nazi War Criminals Hanged On October 16, 1946, ten high-ranking Nazi war criminals were executed by hanging after being convicted by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. This landmark trial held key figures of Adolf Hitler’s regime accountable for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide committed during World War II. Among those executed was Joachi...

This Day in Legal History: Black Panther Party for Self-Defense Founded On October 15, 1966, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in Oakland, California, by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Although primarily thought of as a political and social movement, its founding also had significant legal implications. The Black Panther Party was established to address systemic racism, police...

This Day in Legal History: Anita Hill Testifies in Clarence Thomas Confirmation Hearing On October 11, 1991, law professor Anita Hill testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Hill, who had worked under Thomas at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), accused him of h...

This Day in Legal History: Outer Space Treaty Enters Into Force On October 10, 1967, the Outer Space Treaty, formally known as the "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies," entered into force. This landmark agreement established a framework for the peaceful use and exploration of outer space,...