Washington v. Texas (1967) is a US Supreme Court case about the right of criminal defendants to have witnesses testify on their behalf. The Court decided that the Compulsory Process Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution applied in state courts as well as federal courts. At his trial Jackie Washington had attempted to call his co-defendant as a witness but was blocked because state law prevented co-defendants from testifying for each other, under the theory that they might lie for each other on the stand. The Supreme Court reasoned that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment gives defendants the right to fair proceedings, including the right to compel defense witnesses to testify. In previous cases, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment, which was adopted after the Civil War, makes many federal guarantees in the Bill of Rights applicable to the states. The impact of Washington was narrowed by a later case, Taylor v. Illinois (1988), in which the Court said that "countervailing public interests" could be balanced against a defendant's right to present witnesses.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_v._Texas

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

737:

Muslim conquest of Transoxiana: Turgesh tribes attacked the exposed Umayyad baggage train, which had been sent ahead of the main force, and captured it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Baggage

1551:

Sue Takafusa, a military leader for the Ōuchi clan in western Japan, led a coup against daimyo Ōuchi Yoshitaka, leading to the latter's forced suicide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tainei-ji_incident

1939:

World War II: General Władysław Sikorski became Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Sikorski

1975:

The AH-64 Apache, the primary attack helicopter for a number of countries, made its first flight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_AH-64_Apache

2005:

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published controversial editorial cartoons depicting Muhammad, sparking protests across the Muslim world by many who viewed them as Islamophobic and blasphemous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

bombast: 1. (archaic) Cotton, or cotton wool. 2. (archaic) Cotton, or any soft, fibrous material, used as stuffing for garments; stuffing, padding. 3. (figuratively) High-sounding words; language above the dignity of the occasion; a pompous or ostentatious manner of writing or speaking. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bombast

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

When you see anyone complaining of such and such a person's ill- nature and bad temper, know that the complainant is bad-tempered, forasmuch as he speaks ill of that bad-tempered person, because he alone is good-tempered who is quietly forbearing towards the bad-tempered and ill-natured.   --Rumi https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rumi