January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

United States v. Harris

In 1876, Crockett County, Tennessee, Sheriff R. G. Harris and nineteen armed men had removed four African Americans, Robert Smith, William Overton, George Wells, Jr., and P.M. Wells, from the local jail and beat them, killing one.

Federal prosecutors brought criminal charges against Sheriff Harris and his accomplices under the Force Act of 1871, commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act or the Civil Rights Act of 1871. Introduced by progressive Republicans to extend the protection of federal law to African Americans in states that refused to protect Blacks from racial terror and violence, the act made it a federal crime for individuals to conspire for the purpose of depriving others of their right to the equal protection of the law.

On January 22, 1883, the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Harris dismissed the indictments against the sheriff and his accomplices and declared that the Force Act was unconstitutional because the Fourteenth Amendment limited Congress to taking remedial steps against state action that violated the Fourteenth Amendment and applied only to acts by states, not to acts of individuals.

The Harris decision dealt a devastating blow to congressional efforts to combat the widespread violence and terrorism targeting black Southerners during Reconstruction and left African Americans unprotected against lynching. (next BH, see Jan 29; see 19th century for expanded lynching chronology)

Emmett Till

January 22, 1957: William Bradford Huie wrote another article for Look magazine, “What’s Happened to the Emmett Till Killers?” Huie writes that “Milam does not regret the killing, though it has brought him nothing but trouble.” Blacks have stopped frequenting stores owned by the Milam and Bryant families and put them out of business. Bryant takes up welding for income, and both men are ostracized by the white community. (BH, see Jan 23;  see Till for expanded story)

Albany Movement

January 22, 1962: Ola Mae Quarterman (Jan 12) is tried and convicted. She served 60 days. (next BH, see Feb 12;  see Albany for expanded story)

Margaret Moore and the Rev. F.D. Reese

January 22, 1965: since local teachers in Selma could be fired, few had taken overt roles in the civil rights movement, but Margaret Moore and the Rev. F.D. Reese, who was also a teacher at Hudson High, organized the unprecedented teachers’ march on this date. Almost every black teacher in Selma — 110 of them — marched to register to vote. Sheriff Jim Clark and his deputies pushed them down the courthouse stairs three times, but they were not arrested.  (MLK, see Jan 25)

George Whitmore, Jr

January 22, 1965: The New York Times quoted Stanley J. Reiben, George Whitmore, Jr.’s pro bono lawyer, as saying that the photo found in Whitmore’s possession was not a photo of Wylie but of a women named Arlene Franco, who lived in Wildwood, N.J. next BH, see Jan 25; see Whitmore for expanded story)

Gordon Howell

January 22, 1976: Gordon Howell, a cattle ranch worker, was shot to death in a one-room grocery store owned by Linward Denton, six miles east of Dawson, a rural town in southwest Georgia. According to testimony, Howell was shot by a group of young African American men who came into the store and slipped on ski masks behind a beer cooler before pulling a weapon. Denton identified Roosevelt Watson, who was then 19, as the gunman. Police also arrested his brother, Henderson Jackson, 21; brothers Johnny B. Jackson, 17, and James “Junior” Jackson, 16; and J.D. Davenport, 18, the Watsons’ cousin. All five young men were charged with murder and robbery. In preliminary hearings, the prosecution claimed the accused had confessed, and announced an intention to seek the death penalty.

The five men were represented by Millard Farmer of the Team Defense Project Inc. from Atlanta. Mr. Farmer contended that police coerced the defendants’ alleged confessions by threatening to shoot, electrocute, and castrate the young men. The prosecution’s case began to unravel when, in August 1977, a former police captain testified that he was present when a fellow officer jammed his gun into the forehead of one defendant, cocked it, and repeatedly ordered the defendant to confess, saying to him, “Okay, nigger, I want to know where y’all threw the weapons at.”

Following this testimony, Judge Walter Greer ultimately suppressed the confessions of three of the defendants, ruling that the illiterate young men could not have knowingly and intelligently waived their constitutional rights against self-incrimination. . (BH, see June 25; Howell case, see December 17, 1977)

Michael Griffith

January 22, 1988: Jon Lester received a sentence of ten to thirty years imprisonment for the death of Michael Griffith.

Lester served until 2001 and was deported to his native England where he became an electrical engineer and had three children. Lester committed suicide on August 14, 2017.  He was 48 years old. (NYT article) (see Feb 5)

Laquan McDonald

January 22, 2016: CPD Detective David March and Officer Joseph Walsh, whose reports were dramatically at odds with dashcam video of Laquan McDonald’s shooting, were put on desk duty. (B & S and McDonald, see In March)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

January 22, 1919: Ukraine independent. (see Aug 19)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Japanese Internment Camps

January 22, 1942: Congressman Ford (Calif.) urged total evacuation of all persons of Japanese ancestry. (see JIC for expanded chronology)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

January 22, 1947:  McCollum v. Board of Education—the Illinois Supreme Court concurred with the Circuit Court and ruled that schools can teach religion . (see March 5, 1953)

The Red Scare

January 22, 1953: the premier of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, a play about the Salem Witch Trials which actually took place in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The play is an allegory of McCarthyism. The play’s title can be said to refer to the mixing of religious and secular aspects of society. (see March 5, 1953)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Covert operations

January 22, 1964: the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff informed Defense Secretary Robert McNamara that they were “wholly in favor of executing the covert actions against North Vietnam.”

President Johnson had recently approved Oplan 34A to be conducted by South Vietnamese forces (supported by the United States) to gather intelligence and conduct sabotage to destabilize the North Vietnamese regime. Actual operations began in February and involved raids by South Vietnamese commandos operating under American orders against North Vietnamese coastal and island installations. Although American forces were not directly involved in the actual raids, U.S. Navy ships were on station to conduct electronic surveillance and monitor North Vietnamese defense responses under another program called Operation De Soto. (see Jan 30)

LBJ dies

January 22, 1973: Lyndon Johnson died. (NYT obit)

Student Rights 

January 22, 1975: nine students at an Ohio public school had received 10-day suspensions for disruptive behavior without due process protections.

In Goss v. Lopez, the Supreme Court case held that a public school must conduct a hearing before subjecting a student to suspension. The Court held that a suspension without a hearing violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  (Vietnam, see Jan 29; SR, see April 22, 1983)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

January 22 Music et al

The Sounds of Silence

January 22 – 28, 1966: “The Sounds of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (see Wednesday Morning 3am for more)

Lady Soul

January 22, 1968: Aretha Franklin released Lady Soul album.

Annie Liebowitz

January 22, 1981: Rolling Stone magazine’s John Lennon tribute issue published. Its cover was a photograph of a naked John Lennon curled up in a fetal embrace of a fully clothed Yoko Ono. Annie Liebovitz’s portrait would become the definitive image of perhaps the most photographed married couple in music history. The photograph was all the more poignant for having been taken on the morning of December 8, 1980, just twelve hours before Lennon’s death.

Rolling Stone sent Liebovitz to take a photo of Lennon alone, but Lennon insisted on one with Yoko.  Liebovitz recalled, “…I walk in, and the first thing [Lennon] says to me is ‘I want to be with her.'” Liebovitz reluctantly agreed, Lennon told her on the spot that she “captured [his] relationship with Yoko perfectly.” (2011 LOMOGRAPHY article) (see Feb 6)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural/Technological Milestones

Laugh-In

January 22, 1968: “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” premiered on NBC. Thanks to an ever-changing cast of regulars including the likes of Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, Arte Johnson, Goldie Hawn, Ruth Buzzi, JoAnne Worley, Gary Owens, Alan Sues, Henry Gibson, Lily Tomlin, Richard Dawson, Judy Carne, the show became the highest-rated comedy series in TV history. (see Say Goodnight Dick for more) (see Feb 19)

Apple Macintosh

January 22, 1984: The Apple Macintosh computer was introduced in a TV commercial (“1984”) during Super Bowl XVIII. (2017 Chicago Tribute article) (see Jan 24)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

Romney appointed HUD Secretary

January 22, 1969: former Michigan governor George C. Romney appointed HUD Secretary by President Richard M. Nixon.

Title VII

In 1970: Title VII, otherwise known as the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970 or New Communities Assistance Program was established to guarantee bonds, debentures, and other financing of private and public new community developers and to provide other development assistance through interest loans and grants, public service grants, and planning assistance. (see March 16, 1972)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Joseph Yablonski

January 22, 1970,: three Cleveland, OH, men, Paul Eugene Gilly, Claude Edward Vealey, and Aubran Wayne Martin, were accused of murdering labor organizer Joseph Yablonski and his family. (NYT article) (see Feb 25)

Union membership declines

January 22, 2010: the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that union membership fell so fast in the private sector in 2009 that the 7.9 million unionized public-sector workers easily outnumbered those in the private sector. According to the labor bureau, 7.2 percent of private-sector workers were union members in 2009, down from 7.6 in 2008. That, labor historians said, was the lowest percentage of private-sector workers in unions since 1900. Among government workers, union membership grew to 37.4 percent last year, from 36.8 percent in 2008. (see Apr 5)

LA Teacher Strike

January 22, 2019: Los Angeles public school teachers reached a deal with officials to end a weeklong strike that had affected more than half a million students, winning an array of supplementary services after an era in education marked by attacks on traditional public schools and their teachers. (see Feb 11)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Roe v. Wade

January 22, 1973:  in a decision authored by Justice Harry Blackmun, the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, overturning state and federal laws that regulated or prohibited a woman’s right to an abortion. The landmark decision, established by a vote of 7 to 2, began a longstanding, polarizing political debate between “pro-choice” and “pro-life” factions. “Roe” was Norma McCorvey (Women’s Health, see July 25, 1978; Feminism, see May 14; Norma McCorvey, see February 18, 2017)

Condoleezza Rice

January 22, 2001: Condoleezza Rice became the first woman to serve as U.S. National Security Advisor.  (see November 14, 2002)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

January 22, 1976: in Rizzo v. Goode the Supreme Court rejected a request for an injunction against misconduct by the Philadelphia Police Department. The decision severely limited the role of the federal courts in ordering remedies to end police misconduct.

Section 14141 of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, passed on September 13, 1994, however, authorized the U.S. Justice Department to bring civil suits that demand remedies when there is a “pattern or practice” of abuse of people’s rights. Under Section 14141, the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department has maintained an active program of investigations and lawsuits that have required major reforms in local police department, including Los Angeles, the New Jersey State Police, Cincinnati, and others. (see October 12, 1984)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ War I

 

January 22, 1991: Iraqi troops began blowing up Kuwaiti oil wells. (see Feb 7)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

1998

January 22, 1998: President Clinton reiterated his denial of the relationship and said he never urged Lewinsky to lie. Starr issued subpoenas for a number of people, as well as for White House records. Starr also defended the expansion of his initial Whitewater investigation. Jordan held a press conference to flatly deny he told Lewinsky to lie. Jordan also said that Lewinsky told him that she did not have a sexual relationship with the president.

1999

January 22, 1999: Senators began two days of questioning of the prosecution and defense teams, passing written queries through Chief Justice William Rehnquist. (see Clinton for expanded chronology)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

World Trade Center

January 22, 2008: Man on Wire  documentary which chronicled Philippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers is featured at the Sundance Film Festival. (see May 5, 2010)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

January 22, 2008: Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive “dirty bomb,” was sentenced by a U.S. federal judge in Miami to more than 17 years in prison on terrorism conspiracy charges. (see Feb 11)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

January 22, 2018: the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled 4 – 3 and struck down the state’s congressional district map, saying it “clearly, plainly and palpably” violated the state Constitution.

The Court gave State legislators the opportunity to redraw the map in time for the May 15 primary election, subject to the governor’s approval, and file it with the court by Feb. 15.

But the decision also invited “all parties and interveners” to submit their own proposed replacement maps. If lawmakers can’t make it happen on time, the justices will choose a new map based on the court record.

The order required the new map to divide the state’s voters into districts that are contiguous and have equal populations, which federal law already requires. But the districts also have to avoid dividing political jurisdictions like counties and municipalities, which isn’t a legal mandate but is recognized as “best practice” in redistricting. (VR & PA, see Jan 25)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

January 22, 2018: Congress brought an end to a three-day government shutdown as Senate Democrats buckled under pressure to adopt a short-term spending bill to fund government operations without first addressing the fate of young undocumented immigrants. The key part of the deal was a pledge by Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, to allow an immigration vote in the coming weeks. (see Jan 31)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

January 22, 2018:  approved by the Vermont legislature on January 11, Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed the bill legalizing marijuana for adults over 21. It allowed for the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, two mature and four immature plants.

Vermont was the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana for adults, but the first to do so legislatively and not through ballot initiatives. (see Jan 23 or see CCC for expanded cannabis history)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

January 22, 2019: the US Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to allow it to bar most transgender people from serving in the military while cases challenging the policy make their way to the court.

The administration’s policy reversed a 2016 decision by the Obama administration to open the military to transgender service members. It generally prohibits transgender people from military service but makes exceptions for those already serving openly and those willing to serve “in their biological sex.”

The vote to lift two injunctions blocking the policy issued by lower courts was 5 to 4, with the Supreme Court’s five conservative members in the majority.

Lawyers questioning the new policy said there was no need to enforce it while the cases challenging it moved forward. (next LGBTQ, see Feb 4 military, see Mar 7)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment

January 22, 2020: the House Democratic impeachment managers began formal arguments in the Senate trial, presenting a meticulous and scathing case for convicting President Trump and removing him from office on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the lead House prosecutor, took the lectern in the chamber as senators sat silently preparing to weigh Mr. Trump’s fate. Speaking in an even, measured manner, he accused the president of a corrupt scheme to pressure Ukraine for help “to cheat” in the 2020 presidential election.

Invoking the nation’s founders and their fears that a self-interested leader might subvert democracy for his own personal gain, Mr. Schiff argued that the president’s conduct was precisely what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they devised the remedy of impeachment, one he said was “as powerful as the evil it was meant to combat.” [NYT article] (next TI, see Jan 23 or see Trump for expanded chronology)

January 22 Peace Love Art Activism

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Hiram Rhodes Revels

January 20, 1870: Hiram Rhodes Revels was elected to the U.S. Senate. He would become the first African American to serve in the United States Congress. Revels was elected in Mississippi to fill the vacancy left after the state’s secession from the Union prior to the Civil War.

However, when Revels later arrived in Washington, Southern Democrats determined to block his seating to the U.S. Congress. The Democrats declared his election null and void for various reasons including the fact that he was ineligible for the Senate because he was not a citizen under Dred Scott until the passage of the 14th Amendment. (biography of Revels from US House site) (BH, see Feb 3; Revels, see Feb 25)

George H White/lynching

January 20, 1900: Black Congressman, George H White from North Carolina introduced the first bill in Congress to make lynching a federal crime to be prosecuted by federal courts; it died in committee, opposed by southern white Democrats. (next BH & Lynching, see Nov 16; for for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)

Georgia attempts to withhold school funding

January 20, 1951: Georgia Governor Eugene Talmadge attempted to fight integration by asking the legislature to withhold funds from schools which admit black students. (see Apr 23)

James H Meredith

January 20, 1963: though he initially considered leaving because of continual harassment, James H Meredith announced that he would return to the U of Mississippi for the spring semester. (next BH, see Jan 24; Meredith, see July 9 )

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 20, 1986: the US observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (see Feb 6)

Biden reverses Trump policies

January 20, 2021: On his first day in office, President Biden ended the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission, which had released a report that historians said distorted the role of slavery in the United States, among other history.

Biden also revoked Trump’s executive order limiting the ability of federal agencies, contractors and other institutions to hold diversity and inclusion training.

The president designated Susan E. Rice, the head of his Domestic Policy Council, as the leader of a “robust, interagency” effort requiring all federal agencies to make “rooting out systemic racism” central to their work. His order directed the agencies to review and report on equity in their ranks within 200 days, including a plan on how to remove barriers to opportunities in policies and programs. The order also moves to ensure that Americans of all backgrounds have equal access to federal government resources, benefits and services. It starts a data working group as well as the study of new methods to measure and assess federal equity and diversity efforts. [NYT article] (next BH, see Feb 11)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

BILL OF RIGHTS

January 20, 1920: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) founded.

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

see January 20 Music et al for more

Meet the Beatles

January 20, 1964, The Beatles before their US appearance: Meet The Beatles! released.  (see Meet the Beatles! for more) (see Feb 7)

Alan Freed

January 20, 1965: Alan Freed died. Freed was the man who first played Rock and Roll on the radio and was one of the first to use the term “Rock’N’Roll” in the early 1950’s. Freed is commonly referred to as the “Father of Rock’N’Roll”. He helped bridge the gap of segregation among young teenage Americans, presenting music by African-American artists (rather than cover versions by white artists) on his radio program, and arranging live concerts attended by racially mixed audiences. Freed appeared in several motion pictures as himself. In the 1956 film Rock, Rock, Rock, Freed tells the audience that “rock and roll is a river of music that has absorbed many streams: rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat.” (see January 8, 1966)

Byrds Mr Tambourine Man

January 20, 1965:  The Byrds entered the studio to record “Mr Tambourine Man,” what would become the title track of their debut album and, incidentally, the only Bob Dylan song ever to reach #1 on the U.S. pop charts. Aiming consciously for a vocal style in between Bob Dylan and John Lennon, Roger McGuinn sang lead, with Gene Clark and David Crosby providing the complex harmony that would, along with McGuinn’s jangly electric 12-string Rickenbacker guitar, form the basis of the Byrds’ trademark sound. (see Mar 27)

Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert

January 20, 1968, Bob Dylan and the Band performed Woody Guthrie’s “I Ain’t Got No Home” at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert, Carnegie Hall. The concert was Dylan’s first public appearance since his motorcycle accident on August 20, 1966 . (see June 22)

Judy In Disguise

January 20 – Feb 2, 1968: “Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)” by John Fred & His Playboy Band #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Judy in disguise, well that’s what you are
Lemonade pies with a brand new car
Cantaloupe eyes come to me tonight
Judy in disguise, with glasses.

The Beatles inducted 

January 20, 1988. Paul McCartney did not attend the ceremony, leaving surviving Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, to be inducted by Mick Jagger. McCartney released a brief statement that read: ‘’After 20 years, the Beatles still have some business differences, which I had hoped would have been settled by now. Unfortunately, they haven’t been, so I would feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion.’’ (see May 7, 1992)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

January 20 Inaugurations Since 1960

January 20, 1961: John F Kennedy inaugurated. [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 1965: Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in for his own full term as U.S. President. [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 1969, Richard Nixon inaugurated. [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 1973: Nixon  inaugurated for his second term.[Inauguration Address]

January 20, 1977, Jimmy Carter inaugurated.[Inauguration Address]

January 20, 1981: Ronald Reagan’s first inaugurated. [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 1985: Reagan’s second inauguration. [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 1989: George H. W. Bush inaugurated the 41st President.[Inauguration Address]

January 20, 1993: Bill Clinton inaugurated first time. [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 1997, Bill Clinton is inaugurated for his second term. On the last day of his presidency, [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 2001: George W. Bush inaugurated first time.  [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 2005, George W. Bush is inaugurated for his second term. [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 2009: Barack Obama inaugurated first time. [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 2013: Barack Obama inaugurated second time. [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 2017: Donald Trump inaugurated. [Inauguration Address]

January 20, 2021: Joe Biden inaugurated. [Inaugurations Address]

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

January 20, 1966: stewardess Judith Evenson’s challenge to the airlines’ “no marriage” policy was one of a number of cases between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s in which stewardesses challenged discriminatory policies in the industry. She eventually settled her case out of court, but subsequent challenges by other stewardesses ended this and other discriminatory policies.  (F, see June 30; Labor, see June 8)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran hostage crisis

January 20, 1981: Iran released the 52 Americans held for 444 days within minutes of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration ending the Iran hostage crisis. (NY Daily News article) (see IHC for expanded chronology)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Symbionese Liberation Army

January 20, 2001: on his final day in office, President Bill Clinton issued a presidential pardon to Patty Hearst. (Guardian article) (see Patti Hearst for more about the SLA)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Maryland/Same-sex marriage

January 20, 2006: Maryland Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock struck down a state law banning same-sex marriage saying the measure violated a state constitutional amendment prohibiting sex discrimination. (see October 25, 2006)

Biden reverses Trump

January 20, 2021: on his first day in office President Biden  with an executive order reinforced Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require that the federal government dids not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, a policy that reverses action by Trump’s administration. [NYT article] (next LGBTQ, see Jan 25)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Foxconn

January 20, 2011: iPhone maker Apple was criticized by Chinese green groups for lax corporate oversight of its suppliers in China, leading to poor environmental and work safety standards that poisoned dozens of factory workers. (see Feb 22)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

Holt v Hobbs

January 20, 2015:  in Holt v Hobbs, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously and invalidated an Arkansas state prison rule that barred inmates from growing beards measuring more than a quarter of an inch long. The rule had been challenged by inmate Gregory Holt, a Muslim man who had asked for permission to grow a half-inch-long beard as a compromise from the full beard he believed was required by his faith. In the ruling the Supreme Court said the policy violated Holt’s religious beliefs.

Justice Ruth Ginsberg wrote: “Unlike the exemption this Court approved in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., accommodating petitioner’s religious belief in this case would not detrimentally affect others who do not share petitioner’s belief. On that understanding, I join the Court’s opinion.” (Oyez article)

Church request denied 

January 20, 2015: the Supreme Court decided not hear a petition by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, LA regarding a civil lawsuit the diocese said threatened the confidentiality of the confession.

The petition had sought to block a child from testifying in a civil suit against the church and priest about what she said in confession. The high court’s decision meant the lawsuit could move forward.

The Louisiana Supreme Court’s ruling, rendered in May 2014, laid out arguments that priests should be subject to mandatory reporting laws regarding abuse of minors if the person who makes the confession waives confidentiality. Normally, priests are exempt as mandatory reporters in the setting of confessions. The decision by the state’s high court stated confidentially was intended to protect the person who made the confessions, not the person who receives them.

The original case involved a then-minor girl, who alleged she confessed during the sacrament of Reconciliation to Baton Rouge priest Father George Bayhi that a fellow church parishioner had molested her. The Mayeux family sued the priest and diocese for damages, claiming they were negligent in allowing the alleged abuse to continue and should have reported it to authorities. The suit also names the estate of the man Mayeux says molested her, who died in 2009, as a defendant.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling did not decide the case but ordered it returned to the district level for a hearing to let both sides present evidence about the nature of the confessions. The hearing would decide if the communications between Mayeux and Bayhi should be considered religious confessions and/or explore the content of what was allegedly said. (see June 30)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

January 20, 2017: the new Trump administration immediately undid one of Barack Obama’s last-minute economic-policy actions: a mortgage-fee cut under a government program that was popular with first-time home buyers and low-income borrowers.

HUD cancelled a reduction in the Federal Housing Administration’s annual fee for most borrowers. The cut would have reduced the annual premium for someone borrowing $200,000 by $500 in the first year. (see May 1)

Renewed Rule

January 20, 2023: the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a proposed fair housing rule which put back in place many fair housing obligations that the Trump administration rescinded in 2020.

The new rule revived many provisions of the 2015 Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule, passed during the Obama administration. The 2015 rule required program participants to submit an “equity plan” for review and acceptance to HUD every five years. It also required participants to identify fair housing issues in their communities and set goals to remedy them.

The Biden administration’s proposed rule was supposed to foster “greater transparency and public involvement” in its execution by making equity plans available for public feedback. HUD would provide technical assistance to communities under this program. The rule also aimed to create public accountability by including a “complaint and compliance review process.”

The proposed rule fulfilled an obligation in the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which formed part of the landmark 1968 Civil Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, disability and other grounds in the provision of real estate and brokerage services. [Jurist article] (next FH, see Mar 17)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment

January 20, 2020: Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, unveiled ground rules for President Trump’s impeachment trial that would attempt to speed the proceeding along and refuse to admit the evidence against the president unearthed by the House without a separate vote.

In a 110-page brief submitted to the Senate, the president’s lawyers advanced their first sustained legal argument since the House opened its inquiry in the fall, contending that the two charges approved largely along party lines were constitutionally flawed and set a dangerous precedent. [NYT story] (next TI, see Jan 21 or see Trump for expanded chronology]

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

January 20, 2020: according to the findings  by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the financial cards were stacked against women who wanted but were denied an abortion, as they and their children were more likely to spend years living in poverty than those able to end their pregnancies. Those compelled to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term were far more likely to experience eviction, bankruptcy and be mired in debt,

In looking at a decade of credit data for women who sought abortions at 30 health providers in 21 states, the latest findings built upon a 2019 study  that found denied abortions quadrupled the odds of a new mother and her child living in poverty. The new analysis compared changes over time in credit report outcomes for three years before and up to five years after the intended abortion.

“We find that being denied an abortion has large and persistent effects on financial distress that are sustained for five years following the intended abortion,” wrote the report’s authors, Sarah Miller of the University of Michigan, Laura Wheery of the University of California at Los Angeles and Diana Foster of of the University of California at San Francisco. “Unpaid debts that are more than 30 days past due more than double in size, and the number of public records, which include negative events such as evictions and bankruptcies, increases substantially.”  [CBS News story] (next WH, see Feb 20)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Paris Climate Accord

January 20, 2021: President Biden signed a letter to re-enter the United States in the Paris climate accords, which it would officially rejoin in 30 days from January 20.

In 2019, President Trump had formally notified the United Nations that the United States would withdraw from the coalition of nearly 200 countries working to move away from planet-warming fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas.

In additional executive orders, Biden began the reversal of a slew of the Trump administration’s environmental policies, including revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline; reversing the rollbacks to vehicle emissions standards; undoing decisions to slash the size of several national monuments; enforcing a temporary moratorium on oil and natural gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and re-establishing a working group on the social costs of greenhouse gasses. [NYT article] (next EI, see Jan 27)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

DACA

January 20, 2021: with an executive order, President Biden bolstered the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA] program that protected from deportation immigrants brought to the United States as children, often called Dreamers. President Trump had sought for years to end the program.

The order also called on Congress to enact legislation providing permanent status and a path to citizenship for those immigrants.

Another order overturned a Trump executive order that pushed aggressive efforts to find and deport unauthorized immigrants.

Another order blocked the deportation of Liberians who had been living in the United States.

Biden has also ended the so-called Muslim ban, which blocked travel to the United States from several predominantly Muslim and African countries. Biden had directed the State Department to restart visa processing for individuals from the affected countries and to develop ways to address the harm caused to those who were prevented from coming to the United States because of the ban. [NYT article] (next DACA, see July 17)

Trump’s Wall  

January 20, 2021: President Biden halted construction of President Trump’s border wall with Mexico. The order included an “immediate termination” of the national emergency declaration that had allowed the Trump administration to redirect billions of dollars to the wall. It said the administration would begin “a close review” of the legality of the effort to divert federal money to fund the wall. [NYT article](next TW, see)

2020 Census

January 20, 2021: with an executive order, Biden revoked the Trump administration’s plan to exclude noncitizens from the census count, [NYT article] (next 2020 Census, see Apr 26; next IH, see Jan 26)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

January 20, 2022: Pope Benedict XVI knew about priests who abused children but failed to act when he was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982, an inquest found, rejecting Benedict’s long-standing denials in a damning judgment.

“He was informed about the facts,” lawyer Martin Pusch said, as the Westpfahl Spilker Wastl law firm announced the findings of an investigation into historic sexual abuse at the Munich Archdiocese over several decades. The report was commissioned by the church itself.

“We believe that he can be accused of misconduct in four cases,” Pusch said. “Two of these cases concern abuses committed during his tenure and sanctioned by the state. In both cases, the perpetrators remained active in pastoral care.” [CNN article] (next SaoC, see Apr 19)

January 20 Peace Love Art Activism