Doe v. Ashcroft [Patriot Act ruling]

Doe v. Ashcroft [Patriot Act ruling]

September 29, 2004 08:56:00 pm

Bernard Hibbitts

Judge Victor Marrero, United States Distrcit Court, Southern District of New York, September 29, 2004 [ruling that the section of the USA Patriot Act allowing authorities to demand financial records from companies in terrorism investigations is unconstitutional]. Read the opinion here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Convention on Psychotropic Substances signed

On February 21, 1971, the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances was signed in Vienna, Austria. The Convention was promulgated to regulate psychotropic drugs, extending the 1961 U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which applied to cannabis-, cocoa-, and opium-based drugs. In 1988, the U.N. Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances was promulgated to address international drug manufacture, possession, and distribution, primarily in organized crime.

175 nations are now parties to the Convention. Member nations have implemented the Convention in the form of domestic laws such as the U.S. Psychotropic Substances Act, the U.K. Misuse of Drugs Act, and the Canadian Controlled Substances Act.

Former Nixon AG Mitchell sentenced to prison for Watergate

On February 21, 1975, former US Attorney General John Mitchell, Nixon Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and domestic adviser John Ehrlichman were sentenced to prison terms of 2 1/2 to 8 years for obstructing justice in the Watergate affair.

Learn more about John Mitchell from the Washington Post.

More This Day @ Law... ▸