John H. Blume Archives - JURIST - Commentary

Commentaries by John H. Blume

Putting the 2016 Capital Punishment Ballot Initiatives in Perspective

November 17, 2016 01:47:12 pm

JURIST Guest Columnist John H. Blume of Cornell Law School discusses the current state of the death penalty in the United States...On November 8th, voters in three states endorsed "pro-death penalty" measures. In Nebraska, an initiative asking voters to reinstate...

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WWI gas attack on Canadians led to first chemical weapons ban

On April 24, 1915, the German army used chlorine gas against Canadian troops at Ypres. Gas was later employed by British and French forces against the Germans. Learn more about early efforts by the Red Cross to ban chemical weapons and review the June 1925 Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.

Library of Congress created

On April 24, 1800, U.S. President John Adams approved $5,000 to fund the establishment of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Learn more about the history of the U.S. Library of Congress.