A recent blog from November about the Ex College at Tufts University: Story (tufts.edu) … Continue reading
Category Archives: Legal Fact of the Week
The President is granted the pardon power under Article II, section 2 of the Constitution. Since 1894 it has been the responsibility of the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice to provide the President with recommendations … Continue reading
The Constitution imposes several qualifications for Congressional service, most notably in Article I, s2 & 3 (which sets out age, citizenship, and residency requirements). It also precludes members from Congress from serving in the executive or judicial branches through the … Continue reading
While George Washington is known as the first president of the U.S., there were 8 “presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled” between 1781-1789 appointed under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The name of only one is … Continue reading
California, Alaska, and Illinois now have pet custody laws that permit judges to determine what is in the best interests of a pet when settling disputes in divorce cases. These laws allow judges to treat these cases more like child … Continue reading
Leap year birthdays can be a source of legal issues for people born on February 29th (often called “leapers”), particularly with regard to medical or government records. Some computer systems do not accept February 29th as a valid date, or … Continue reading
Martin Luther King Day (officially known as “Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.”, and unofficially as ‘MLK Day’), is observed on the third Monday of January in recognition of King’s birthday on January 15th, and is the last federal holiday … Continue reading
Until 1883, there was little standardization of time zones in the U.S., with railroads using 56 different time standards across the country. The General Time Convention established by the railroads set four time zones running from east to west, based … Continue reading
The “Lame Duck Amendment” is more formally known as the 20th Amendment. Ratified in 1933, it moved up inauguration from March 4th — a month originally chosen to provide time for the newly-elected president to travel to the capital– to … Continue reading
The first country to formally recognize the United States was Morocco in 1777. The treaty between these two countries, known as the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, was signed in 1786 and ratified in 1787 by the Confederation Congress. It remains … Continue reading
A proclamation by President George Washington and a congressional resolution established the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26, 1789. The holiday was intended to give thanks for the new government formed under the Constitution. It became an official federal … Continue reading
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which sought to guarantee equal rights for women, was introduced in 1923 but not submitted for ratification until 1972. It was ultimately ratified by 35 states (although five of these later voted to rescind their … Continue reading