Justin Cosgrove

Houston voters reject Equal Rights Ordinance

Justin Cosgrove

November 4, 2015 11:14:11 am

Houston voters rejected the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance on Tuesday by a margin of 61 to 39 percent. Ordinance No. 2014-530 , known by its opponents as the "bathroom bill," prohibited discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion, sexual...

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Iraq parliament limits prime minister’s power to reform

Justin Cosgrove

November 2, 2015 11:33:48 am

Iraqi parliament members voted on Monday to prevent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi from unilaterally passing important reforms without parliament's approval. One anonymous member of parliament stated that this resolution would end the prime minister's...

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Obama urges criminal justice reforms to reduce sentences for nonviolent drug offenders

Justin Cosgrove

October 28, 2015 10:45:17 am

US President Barack Obama made the case for overhauling the nation's sentencing laws on Tuesday in front of top law enforcement officials at the 122nd Annual International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference and Exposition. The president...

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Families of Srebrenica victims file complaint in Europe rights court

Justin Cosgrove

October 26, 2015 10:48:45 am

Lawyers for the families of three Bosnian Muslims killed in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre on Friday filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) seeking to bring charges against...

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THIS DAY @ LAW

Netherlands becomes the first country to legalize same-sex marriage and euthanasia

On April 1, 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. The nation then became the first country to legalize euthanasia on April 1, 2002.

First US wartime conscription law took effect

On April 1, 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, the first wartime conscription law passed in the United States went into effect. It included a clause allowing a person to pay $300 to avoid military service, a controversial "rich man's" exception that precipitated the July 1863 New York City Draft Riots.

The riots, the worst in US history to that point, killed as many as 100 people and had to be quelled by troops, some of whom had recently fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. Learn more about the Draft Riots.