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Today in History

U.S. Supreme Court upholds independent counsel law

By The Associated Press

Today is Saturday, June 29, the 180th day of 2019. There are 185 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On June 29, 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Morrison v. Olson, upheld the independent counsel law in a 7-1 decision (the sole dissenter was Justice Antonin Scalia).

On this date:

In 1520, Montezuma II, the ninth and last emperor of the Aztecs, died in Tenochtitlan under unclear circumstances (some say he was killed by his own subjects; others, by the Spanish).

In 1613, London’s original Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a cannon shot during a performance of “Henry VIII.”

In 1767, Britain approved the Townshend Revenue Act, which imposed import duties on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper and tea shipped to the American colonies. (Colonists bitterly protested, prompting Parliament to repeal the duties — except for tea.)

In 1880, France annexed Tahiti, which became a French colony on December 30, 1880.

In 1927, the first trans-Pacific airplane flight was completed as U.S. Army Air Corps Lt. Lester J. Maitland and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger arrived at Wheeler Field in Hawaii aboard the Bird of Paradise, an Atlantic-Fokker C-2, after flying 2,400 miles from Oakland, California, in 25 hours, 50 minutes.

In 1936, entertainer and songwriter George M. Cohan was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his contributions to building American morale during World War I.

In 1967, actress Jayne Mansfield, 34, was killed along with her boyfriend, Sam Brody, and their driver, Ronnie Harrison, when their car slammed into the rear of a tractor-trailer on a highway in Slidell, Louisiana; three children riding in the back, including Mansfield’s 3-year-old daughter, Mariska Hargitay, survived. Jerusalem was re-unified as Israel removed barricades separating the Old City from the Israeli sector.

In 1970, the United States ended a two-month military offensive into Cambodia.

In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian Mir space station linked in orbit, beginning a historic five-day voyage as a single ship. A department store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed, killing at least 500 people. Actress Lana Turner died in Century City, California, at age 74.

In 2003, actress Katharine Hepburn died in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, at age 96.

In 2006, The Supreme Court ruled, 5-3, that President George W. Bush’s plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law.

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