query: Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States.

pos: Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( -LSB- ˈeɪbrəhæm_ˈlIŋkən -RSB- February 12 , 1809 -- April 15 , 1865 ) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865 . Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War -- its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral , constitutional , and political crisis . In doing so , he preserved the Union , paved the way to the abolition of slavery , strengthened the federal government , and modernized the economy .   Born in Hodgenville , Kentucky , Lincoln grew up on the western frontier in Kentucky and Indiana . Largely self-educated , he became a lawyer in Illinois , a Whig Party leader , and was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives , in which he served for eight years . Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846 , Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks , tariffs , and railroads . Because he had originally agreed not to run for a second term in Congress , and because his opposition to the Mexican -- American War was unpopular among Illinois voters , Lincoln returned to Springfield and resumed his successful law practice . Reentering politics in 1854 , he became a leader in building the new Republican Party , which had a statewide majority in Illinois . In 1858 , while taking part in a series of highly publicized debates with his opponent and rival , Democrat Stephen A. Douglas , Lincoln spoke out against the expansion of slavery , but lost the U.S. Senate race to Douglas .   In 1860 , Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state . Though he gained very little support in the slaveholding states of the South , he swept the North and was elected president in 1860 . Lincoln 's victory prompted seven southern slave states to form the Confederate States of America before he moved into the White House -- no compromise or reconciliation was found regarding slavery and secession . Subsequently , on April 12 , 1861 , a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter inspired the North to enthusiastically rally behind the Union . As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican Party , Lincoln confronted Radical Republicans , who demanded harsher treatment of the South , War Democrats , who called for more compromise , anti-war Democrats ( called Copperheads ) , who despised him , and irreconcilable secessionists , who plotted his assassination . Politically , Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other , by carefully planned political patronage , and by appealing to the American people with his powers of oratory . His Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism , republicanism , equal rights , liberty , and democracy .   Lincoln initially concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war . His primary goal was to reunite the nation . He suspended habeas corpus , leading to the controversial ex parte Merryman decision , and he averted potential British intervention in the war by defusing the Trent Affair in late 1861 . Lincoln closely supervised the war effort , especially the selection of top generals , including his most successful general , Ulysses S. Grant . He also made major decisions on Union war strategy , including a naval blockade that shut down the South 's normal trade , moves to take control of Kentucky and Tennessee , and using gunboats to gain control of the southern river system . Lincoln tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond ; each time a general failed , Lincoln substituted another , until finally Grant succeeded . As the war progressed , his complex moves toward ending slavery included the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 ; Lincoln used the U.S. Army to protect escaped slaves , encouraged the border states to outlaw slavery , and pushed through Congress the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , which permanently outlawed slavery .   An exceptionally astute politician deeply involved with power issues in each state , Lincoln reached out to the War Democrats and managed his own re-election campaign in the 1864 presidential election . Anticipating the war 's conclusion , Lincoln pushed a moderate view of Reconstruction , seeking to reunite the nation speedily through a policy of generous reconciliation in the face of lingering and bitter divisiveness . On April 14 , 1865 , five days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee , Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth , a Confederate sympathizer .   Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U.S. presidents .

neg: United States presidential election in New York, 1916 The 1916 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 7 , 1916 . All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1916 United States presidential election . New York voters chose forty-five electors to the Electoral College , which selected the President and Vice President .   New York was won by the Republican nominee , U.S. Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes of New York , and his running mate Senator Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana . Hughes and Fairbanks defeated the Democratic nominees , incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson and Vice President Thomas R. Marshall .   The former Governor of New York , Hughes won his home state fairly comfortably , taking 51.53 % of the vote to Wilson 's 44.51 % , a victory margin of 7.02 % . Coming in a distant third was Socialist candidate Allan L. Benson , who took 2.69 % .   New York in this era was a Republican state in presidential elections ; however in 1912 , a strong third party run by former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt against the incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft had split the Republican vote , and had enabled Woodrow Wilson as the Democratic candidate to win New York State 's electoral votes in 1912 with a plurality of only 41 % of the vote . With the Republican base re-united behind Charles Evans Hughes in 1916 , New York returned to the Republican column , and delivered a fairly comfortable win to Hughes even as Wilson won re-election nationwide . Hughes ' seven percent margin of victory made New York State a strong ten percent more Republican than the national average in the 1916 election ; despite this , Hamilton and Greene Counties voted for Wilson , yet would never vote Democratic again until 1964 and never do so subsequently .

neg: 1860 Republican National Convention The 1860 Republican National Convention , also known as the 2nd Republican National Convention , was a nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States , held in Chicago , Illinois , from May 16 to 18 , 1860 . The gathering nominated former U.S. Representative Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for President of the United States and Senator Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for Vice President .   Lincoln 's nomination was a surprise , as the favorite before the convention had been former Governor of New York and U.S. Senator William H. Seward . Lincoln 's campaign manager , David Davis , is credited for Lincoln 's victory over Thurlow Weed , Seward 's campaign manager .   Lincoln-Hamlin went on to defeat three other major tickets that year , including Democratic nominee Stephen A. Douglas , U.S. Senator from Illinois .

neg: Presidency of John F. Kennedy The presidency of John F. Kennedy began on January 20 , 1961 , when he was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States , and ended on November 22 , 1963 , upon his assassination and death , a span of days . A Democrat , he took office following the 1960 presidential election , in which he narrowly defeated Richard Nixon . He was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson .   Kennedy was the first person born in the 20th century to be elected president , and , at age 43 , the youngest person elected to the office . He was also the first Roman Catholic elected to the presidency . Kennedy played an important role in bringing American politics into the modern communications age , as his use of television provided a campaign model that spoke to voters directly , and his media presidency greatly weakened the power of political machines in party politics .   Kennedy 's time in office was marked by Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union and especially with Cuba . In Cuba , a failed attempt was made in April 1961 at the Bay of Pigs to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro . Kennedy 's administration subsequently rejected plans by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to orchestrate false-flag attacks on American soil in order to gain public approval for a war against Cuba . In October 1962 , it was discovered that Soviet ballistic missiles had been deployed in Cuba ; the resulting period of unease , termed the Cuban Missile Crisis , is seen by many historians as the closest the human race has ever come to nuclear war between nuclear-armed belligerents .   To contain Communist expansion in Asia , Kennedy increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam by a factor of 18 over his predecessor , Dwight D. Eisenhower ; a further escalation of the American role in the Vietnam War took place after Kennedy 's death . In domestic politics Kennedy made bold proposals in his New Frontier agenda , but few were passed by Congress . He did establish of the Peace Corps , and intensify the Space Race . Kennedy took steps to support the Civil Rights Movement , and after his death his proposed civil rights bill was passed as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

neg: Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War This timeline of events leading up to the American Civil War describes and links to narrative articles and references about many of the events and issues which historians recognize as origins and causes of the Civil War . The pre-Civil War events can be roughly divided into a period encompassing the long term build-up over many decades and a period encompassing the five-month build to war immediately after the election of Abraham Lincoln as President in the Election of 1860 which culminated in the Fall of Fort Sumter ( April 1861 ) .   Since the early colonial period in Virginia , slavery had been a part of the socioeconomic system of British North America and was recognized in the Thirteen Colonies at the time of the United States ' Declaration of Independence ( 1776 ) . Since then , events and statements by politicians and others brought forth differences , tensions and divisions between the people of the slave states of the Southern United States and the people of the free states of the Northern United States ( including Western states ) over the topics of slavery . The large underlying issue from which other issues developed was whether slavery should be retained and even expanded to other areas or whether it should be contained and eventually abolished . Over many decades , these issues and divisions became increasingly irreconcilable and contentious .   Events in the 1850s culminated with the election of the anti-slavery-expansion Republican Abraham Lincoln as President on November 6 , 1860 . This provoked the first round of state secessions as leaders of the Deep South cotton states were unwilling to remain in a second class political status with their way of life threatened by the President himself . Initially , the seven Deep South states seceded , with economies based on cotton ( then in heavy European demand with rising prices ) . They were Alabama , Florida , Georgia , Louisiana , Mississippi , South Carolina and Texas . After the Confederates attacked and captured Fort Sumter , President Lincoln called for volunteers to march south and suppress the rebellion . This pushed the four other Upper South States ( Virginia , North Carolina , Tennessee , and Arkansas ) also to secede . These states completed the formation of the Confederate States of America . Their addition to the Confederacy insured a war would be prolonged and bloody because they contributed territory and soldiers .

neg: President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers On April 15 , 1861 , at the start of the American Civil War , the President of the United States , Abraham Lincoln , called for a 75,000-man militia to serve for three months following the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter . Some slave states refused to send troops against their neighboring slave states , with the result that most such states also declared secession from the United States and joined the Confederate States .

neg: List of members of the United States House of Representatives who served a single term One-term congressmen are members of the United States House of Representatives that spent only one two-year term ( or less ) in office usually either due to death , resignation , or defeat . In some rare cases freshmen members have decided to run for another office or not run for reelection . A good many members that serve in the House for only one term are viewed as accidental congressmen due to having been elected in a fluke election or by riding in on the coattails of a popular presidential candidate . Among the most famous one-term congressmen were Abraham Lincoln , who served as a Whig in the 30th Congress of 1847-1849 and was later the 16th President of the United States ; John Marshall , who was elected as a Federalist to the 6th Congress and was later the 4th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ; William Pennington , who served as a Republican in the 36th Congress and was the first sitting Speaker of the House to be defeated in a bid for re-election ; Joseph Pulitzer , the famed newspaper man that resigned from office during his first term ; George Sutherland , who served as a Republican in the 57th Congress and was later an associate U.S. Supreme Court justice ; and William M. `` Boss '' Tweed , who served as a Democrat to the 33rd Congress and later went on to become infamous for his leadership of Tammany Hall , the dominant political machine in New York City throughout the nineteenth century ; and Isidor Straus , the co-owner of Macy 's department store who died in the sinking of the Titanic .

neg: Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln may refer to :   First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln , 1861  Second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln , 1865

neg: Lincoln Bedroom The Lincoln Bedroom is a bedroom which is part of a guest suite located in the southeast corner of the second floor of the White House in Washington , D.C. . The Lincoln Sitting Room makes up the other part of the suite . The room is named for President Abraham Lincoln , who used the room as an office .   The first room in the White House to carry the name `` Lincoln Bedroom '' was in the northwest corner of the White House . It existed from 1929 until the 1961 , when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy transformed it into the President 's Dining Room .

neg: United States presidential election, 1812 The United States presidential election of 1812 was the seventh quadrennial presidential election . It was held from Friday , October 30 to Wednesday , December 2 , 1812 , and took place in the shadow of the War of 1812 . It featured an intriguing competition between incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Madison and a dissident Democratic-Republican , DeWitt Clinton , nephew of Madison 's late Vice President , George Clinton . The Federalist opposition threw their support behind Clinton . Nonetheless , Madison was re-elected with 50.4 percent of the popular vote to his opponent 's 47.6 % , making the 1812 election the closest election up to that point for the popular vote . This was the first presidential election to be held during a major war involving the United States .

neg: Emancipation Memorial The Emancipation Memorial , also known as the Freedman 's Memorial or the Emancipation Group , and sometimes referred to as the `` Lincoln Memorial '' before the more prominent so-named memorial was built , is a monument in Lincoln Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington , D.C.   Designed and sculpted by Thomas Ball and erected in 1876 , the monument depicts Abraham Lincoln in his role of the `` Great Emancipator '' freeing a male African American slave modeled on Archer Alexander . The ex-slave is depicted on one knee , with one fist clenched , shirtless and shackled at the president 's feet .   The statue originally faced west towards the U.S. Capitol until it was rotated east in 1974 in order to face the newly-erected Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial .   The monument has long been the subject of controversy . According to information from American University :   Despite being paid for by African Americans , historian Kirk Savage in 1997 condemned it as `` a monument entrenched in and perpetuating racist ideology '' because of the supplicant and inferior position of the Black figure .   The statue is a contributing monument to the Civil War Monuments in Washington , DC , of the National Register of Historic Places .

neg: Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt The presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt began on March 4 , 1933 , when he was inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States , and ended upon his death on April 12 , 1945 , a span of ( 4422 days ) . Roosevelt assumed the presidency in the midst of the Great Depression . Starting with his landslide victory over Republican President Herbert Hoover in the 1932 election . He won a record four presidential terms , and became a central figure in world affairs during World War II . His program for relief , recovery and reform , known as the New Deal , involved a great expansion of the role of the federal government in the economy . Under his steady leadership , the Democratic Party built a `` New Deal Coalition '' of labor unions , big city machines , white ethnics , African Americans , and rural white Southerners , that would significantly realign American politics for the next several decades in the Fifth Party System and also define modern American liberalism .   During his first hundred days in office , Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented major legislation and issued a profusion of executive orders that instituted the New Deal -- a variety of programs designed to produce relief ( government jobs for the unemployed ) , recovery ( economic growth ) , and reform ( through regulation of Wall Street , banks and transportation ) . He created numerous programs to support the unemployed and farmers , and to encourage labor union growth while more closely regulating business and high finance . The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 added to his popularity , helping him win re-election by a landslide in 1936 . The economy improved rapidly from 1933 to 1937 , but then relapsed into a deep recession in 1937 -- 38 . The bipartisan Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his attempted packing of the Supreme Court , and blocked most of his legislative proposals , aside from the Fair Labor Standards Act . When the war began and unemployment largely became a non-issue , conservatives in Congress repealed the two major relief programs , the WPA and CCC , but kept most of the regulations on business . Along with several smaller programs , major surviving programs from the New Deal include the Securities and Exchange Commission , the Wagner Act , the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation , and Social Security .   A potential worldwide war loomed after 1937 , with the Japanese invasion of China and the aggression of Nazi Germany , which invaded Poland in September 1939 . Roosevelt remained officially neutral but gave strong diplomatic and financial support to China , the United Kingdom , Free France , and the Soviet Union via initiatives such as the Lend-Lease programs . Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 , Roosevelt sought and obtained a declaration of war upon Japan . A few days later , he sought and obtained a declaration of war upon the other major Axis powers , Germany and Italy . Assisted by his top aide Harry Hopkins , and with very strong national support , he worked closely with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , Soviet leader Joseph Stalin , and Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in leading the Allies during World War II . He supervised the mobilization of the U.S. economy to support the war effort , and the war saw the end of the massive unemployment that characterized the Great Depression . Roosevelt sought to desegregate the federal workforce with the Fair Employment Practice Committee , but he also controversially ordered the internment of 100,000 Japanese American civilians . As an active military leader , Roosevelt implemented a war strategy on two fronts that ended in the defeat of the Axis Powers and the development of the world 's first nuclear bomb . Though he died months before the end of the war , his work on the post-war order shaped the new United Nations and the Bretton Woods international financial system . Roosevelt 's health seriously declined during the war years , and he died three months into his fourth term . He was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman . It was on Roosevelt 's watch that the Democratic Party was returned to dominance , prosperity returned , and two great military enemies were destroyed .   Scholars , historians and the public typically rank Roosevelt alongside Abraham Lincoln and George Washington as one of the three greatest U.S. Presidents .

neg: Texas annexation The Texas annexation was the 1845 incorporation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America , which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29 , 1845 .   The Republic of Texas declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2 , 1836 . At the time the vast majority of the Texian population favored the annexation of the Republic by the United States . The leadership of both major American political parties , the Democrats and the Whigs , opposed the introduction of Texas , a vast slave-holding region , into the volatile political climate of the pro- and anti-slavery sectional controversies in Congress . Moreover , they wished to avoid a war with Mexico , whose government refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of its rebellious northern province . With Texas 's economic fortunes declining by the early 1840s , the President of the Texas Republic , Sam Houston , arranged talks with Mexico to explore the possibility of securing official recognition of independence , with Great Britain mediating .   In 1843 , U.S. President John Tyler , unaligned with any political party , decided independently to pursue the annexation of Texas in a bid to gain a base of popular support for another four years in office . His official motivation was to outmaneuver suspected diplomatic efforts by the British government for emancipation of slaves in Texas , which would undermine slavery in the United States . Through secret negotiations with the Houston administration , Tyler secured a treaty of annexation in April 1844 . When the documents were submitted to the US Senate for ratification , the details of the terms of annexation became public and the question of acquiring Texas took center stage in the presidential election of 1844 .  Pro-Texas-annexation southern Democratic delegates denied their anti-annexation leader Martin Van Buren the nomination at their party 's convention in May 1844 . In alliance with pro-expansion northern Democratic colleagues , they secured the nomination of James K. Polk , who ran on a pro-Texas Manifest Destiny platform .   In June 1844 , the Senate , with its Whig majority , soundly rejected the Tyler -- Texas treaty . The pro-annexation Democrat Polk narrowly defeated anti-annexation Whig Henry Clay in the November 1844 presidential election . In December 1844 , lame-duck President Tyler called on Congress to pass his treaty by simple majorities in each house . The Democratic-dominated House of Representatives complied with his request by passing an amended bill expanding on the pro-slavery provisions of the Tyler treaty . The Senate narrowly passed a compromise version of the House bill ( by the vote of the minority Democrats and several southern Whigs ) , designed to provide the incoming President-elect Polk the options of immediate annexation of Texas or new talks to revise the annexation terms of the House-amended bill .   On March 1 , 1845 , President Tyler signed the annexation bill , and on March 3 ( his last day in office ) , he forwarded the House version to Texas , offering immediate annexation ( which preempted Polk ) . When Polk took office the next day , he encouraged Texas to accept the Tyler offer . Texas ratified the agreement with popular approval from Texans . The bill was signed by Polk on December 29 , 1845 , accepting Texas as the 28th state of the Union . Texas formally relinquished its sovereignty to the United States on February 19 , 1846 .

neg: New York City draft riots The New York draft riots ( July 13 -- 16 , 1863 ) , known at the time as Draft Week , were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan , widely regarded as the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War . The riots remain the largest civil and racial insurrection in American history , aside from the Civil War itself .   U.S. President Abraham Lincoln diverted several regiments of militia and volunteer troops from following up after the Battle of Gettysburg to control the city . The rioters were overwhelmingly working-class men , who resented that wealthier men , who could afford to pay a $ 300 ( equivalent to $ 9,157 in 2017 ) commutation fee to hire a substitute , were spared from the draft .   Initially intended to express anger at the draft , the protests turned into a race riot , with white rioters , predominantly Irish immigrants , attacking blacks throughout the city . The official death toll was listed at either 119 or 120 individuals . Conditions in the city were such that Major General John E. Wool , commander of the Department of the East , said on July 16 that `` Martial law ought to be proclaimed , but I have not a sufficient force to enforce it . ''   The military did not reach the city until after the first day of rioting , by which time the mobs , primarily ethnic Irish , had already ransacked or destroyed numerous public buildings , two Protestant churches , the homes of various abolitionists or sympathizers , many black homes , and the Colored Orphan Asylum at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue , which was burned to the ground .   The area 's demographics changed as a result of the riot . Many blacks left Manhattan permanently ( many moving to Brooklyn ) . By 1865 their population fell below 10,000 , the number in 1820 .

neg: Archibald Williams (judge) Archibald Williams ( June 10 , 1801 -- September 21 , 1863 ) was a United States federal judge .   Born in Montgomery County , Kentucky , Williams read law to enter the bar in 1828 . He was in private practice in Quincy , Illinois beginning in 1829 . He was the United States Attorney for the District of Illinois from 1849 to 1853 . He served in both the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois State Senate .   On March 8 , 1861 , Williams was nominated by President Abraham Lincoln to a new seat on the United States District Court for the District of Kansas created by 12 Stat . 126 . He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 12 , 1861 , and received his commission the same day . Williams served in that capacity until his death , in 1863 , in Quincy , Illinois .   Archibald Williams 's historical significance was based on his close friendship with Abraham Lincoln , the 16th President of the United States , who issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves . Lincoln was from Springfield , Illinois , and Williams was from Quincy , Illinois , a port city on the Mississippi River along the western border of the state . The two men were close political allies in the Whig Party and , later on , in the newly founded Republican Party . They first met when serving in the Illinois state legislature in the early 1830 's . They were compatriots for 29 years .   Archibald Williams led the life of a political party workhorse , first for the Whig Party and then the Republicans . He served in the Illinois state legislature , made two unsuccessful runs for the U.S. Senate as a Whig , played a leading role at the Illinois state Constitutional Convention of 1847 , chaired many important political meetings in Quincy , Illinois , attended many state political party conventions , made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. House of Representatives , and in 1858 campaigned in Illinois for his friend Abraham Lincoln . In all recorded instances , Archibald Williams gave Abraham Lincoln his true and unwavering support .   Archibald Williams died in 1863 . By that time , Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States and the leader of the Northern states during the American Civil War .   Birth and Early Life   Archibald Williams was born in Montgomery County , Kentucky , on June 10 , 1801 . He was the son of John Williams and Amelia Gill Williams . He grew up in Kentucky , qualified to be a lawyer in the neighboring state of Tennessee , and then moved west with some of his brothers and sisters to Quincy , Illinois . As a young attorney , he rode circuit , going from county court to county court arguing legal cases . He was particularly noted for taking cases on appeal , and he argued many cases before the Illinois state Supreme Court .   He married Nancy Kemp , who also had come from Kentucky , on July 28 , 1831 . They had nine children , but only five grew up to be adults . For several months in early 1832 he served as a volunteer in the Black Hawk War against Native Americans . In the fall of 1832 he strongly supported Henry Clay for President of the United States .   At the Illinois State Legislature   Archibald Williams was elected to the Illinois state Senate in 1832 . He studied and reported on School Financing to the state Senate , arguing for local control of schools rather than establishing a statewide system . Later in his legislative career , he labeled the Illinois Internal Improvements program `` Infernal Improvements '' due to its financial difficulties leading to bankruptcy .   Abraham Lincoln was elected to the state legislature in 1834 . Archibald Williams and Lincoln became good friends and both subsequently joined the Whig Party . Lincoln was said to have seen Archibald Williams as a great `` reasoner . '' The two men were described as `` sitting next to each other in the southeast corner of the statehouse . '' It was noted : `` Lincoln did not hesitate to consult Williams at all times , and the two men were often associated in legal work . ''   Twice the Whig Candidate for U.S. Senator   Archibald Williams ran for the United States Senate as a Whig in 1836 and in 1842 . At those times the selection of U.S. senators was made by both houses of the state legislature . Lincoln voted for Archibald Williams the first time he ran for U.S. Senator in 1836 . The second time Archibald Williams ran , in 1842 , Lincoln was no longer in the state legislature and thus could not vote for his friend . In both instances , Archibald Williams was not elected .   Witnessed Abraham Lincoln 's Admission to U.S. Courts   Abraham Lincoln was admitted to practice law in the United States Circuit Court on December 3 , 1839 . U.S Court Judge Nathaniel Pope presided over the ceremony . A Quincy , Illinois , newspaper noted that Archibald Williams was present at the ceremony .   Presided Over Whig Party State Conventions in Illinois   Archibald Williams presided over a Whig Party state convention meeting in Springfield , Illinois , in 1843 . Abraham Lincoln attended the convention and was elected a Whig Party presidential elector for the 1844 presidential election . Unfortunately for the Whigs , Democrat James K. Polk of Tennessee won the presidential election .   In June of 1844 , Archibald Williams was elected president of an Illinois state Whig Party convention in Peoria , Illinois . Abraham Lincoln spoke to the convention in support of the United States charging higher tariffs on imported goods , a major Whig position at the time .   Supported African Colonization of Freed Slaves   Along with Abraham Lincoln , Archibald Williams in the 1840 's supported the African colonization of freed slaves by joining the Illinois colonization society . Although opposed to slavery , both men believed Southerners should be allowed to keep their slaves but also should be urged to free their slaves voluntarily and return them to Africa . This was thought to be a reasonable and non-coercive solution to the slavery problem .   The Mormon Problem in Illinois   Joining with his friend and fellow Quincy lawyer Orville Browning , Archibald Williams in 1840 helped to defend Mormon leader Joseph Smith from being extradited to Missouri to face possible execution for alleged crimes . Joseph Smith was the founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints ( Mormons ) , and he and his church were unpopular because of the voting power of his supporters and their belief in men having multiple wives . Thanks to Browning 's and Williams 's arguments in court , Smith was not extradited to Missouri but remained in Illinois and founded a Mormon colony at Nauvoo , Illinois .   Four years later , in 1844 , Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered by a mob while incarcerated in the jail at Carthage , Illinois . Williams and Browning switched sides and helped to defend in court the accused murderers of Joseph and Hyrum Smith . The murderers were all found not-guilty .   Shortly afterward , Archibald Williams chaired a meeting in Quincy , Illinois , that sought to arrange for a peaceful departure of the Mormons from Illinois to the far western state of Utah . Archibald Williams appointed a delegation of Quincy citizens that traveled to Nauvoo and convinced the new Mormon leader , Brigham Young , to leave Illinois for Utah in an orderly manner . Brigham Young said the Mormons could not leave immediately , but when `` grass grows and water runs , '' both signs of spring . The following spring the Mormons peacefully left Illinois for Utah , traveling mainly by wagon train .   The Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1847   Archibald Williams was elected to the Illinois state Constitutional Convention of 1847 as a Whig . The convention met in the state capitol in Springfield , Illinois , and proceeded to write an improved state constitution . Williams was elected in a Democratic district against a Democratic candidate . Although the Democrats had a majority of the delegates to the convention , the Whigs could break away Democratic votes when they needed them and ended up dominating the convention . A historian noted : `` James W. Singleton of Mount Sterling , Archibald Williams of Quincy , and David M. Woodson of Carrollton aggressively upheld the Whig cause against the attacks of various capable Democratic opponents . ''   At the constitutional convention , Archibald Williams and the Whig Party supported the rights of property , strict voting requirements in state elections , and allowing the state legislature to override the governor 's veto by a majority vote rather than a two-thirds vote . Two issues were sent to the state 's voters - one calling for the creation of an Illinois state bank and the other limiting the immigration into Illinois of freed slaves from the slave states . The voters of Illinois rejected the idea of an Illinois state bank but approved limiting the immigration of freed slaves .   Archibald Williams gave a major speech at the constitutional convention opposing the idea that the Illinois Supreme Court should meet at various locations throughout the state rather than only in the state capital of Springfield . After the constitutional convention adjourned , the voters of Illinois approved the new constitution by a ratio of almost 4 to 1 .   The Constitutional Convention of 1847 was a landmark in the legal and political career of Archibald Williams . He succeeded in furthering the ideals and policies of the Whig Party against stiff Democratic Party opposition . He was three months in Springfield , the state capital , meeting and working with many of the leading politicians and government officials from throughout the state . It helped to make him a significant figure in Illinois political and governmental history .   The `` Lincoln Letter '' to Archibald Williams   In the 1848 presidential election , Abraham Lincoln was backing General Zachary Taylor , a Mexican War hero , for the Whig Party nomination . A problem developed when Orville H. Browning , a Whig Party leader in Quincy , Illinois , supported the nomination of past Whig Party favorite Henry Clay . On April 30 , 1848 , Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Archibald Williams urging him to support Zachary Taylor and , if possible , also enlist the support of Browning . The letter read :   Washington , April 30 , 1848  Dear Williams ,   I have not seen in the papers and evidence of a movement to send a delegate from your circuit to the June convention - I wish to say that I think it all important that a delegate should be sent - Mr. Clay 's chance for election is just no chance at all . He might get New  York , and that would have elected in 1844 but it will not now ; because he must now at the  least , have Tennessee , which he had then and , in addition , the fifteen new votes of Florida , Texas , Iowa , and Wisconsin . I know that our good friend Browning is a great admirer of Mr. Clay , and I therefore fear he is favoring his nomination . If he is , ask him to discard feeling , and try if he can possibly , as a matter of judgement , count the votes necessary to elect him .   In my judgment , we can elect nobody but Gen. Taylor , and we can not elect him without a nomination - Therefore do n't fail to send a delegation -   Your friend as ever ,  A. Lincoln   This letter demonstrates the close friendship and easygoing familiarity between Abraham Lincoln and Archibald Williams . It also reveals Lincoln 's developing skills as an up and coming Illinois politician . It is not known whether Archibald Williams prevailed on Orville Browning to support Zachary Taylor for the Whig nomination for president in 1848 . What is known is that Zachary Taylor not only gained the Whig Party nomination but also won the presidency .   Named U.S. District Attorney for Illinois   Once in the White House in Washington , D.C. , newly elected President Zachary Taylor appointed Archibald Williams the United States District Attorney for the state of Illinois . Abraham Lincoln had sent the following letter in support of Williams 's nomination :   Washington , March 8 , 1849  Hon : John M. Clayton  Secretary of State   Dear Sir :  We Recommend that Archibald Williams , of Quincy , Illinois , be appointed U.S. District Attorney for the District of Illinois , when that office shall become vacant .   Your Obt . Servts .  A. Lincoln   As U.S. District Attorney for Illinois , it was Archibald Williams 's job to prosecute cases in the U.S. District Court . The job became more difficult for Williams in 1850 when Congress enacted the Compromise of 1850 , which included a new Fugitive Slave Law . This law required Williams , in his role as U.S. District Attorney , to oversee the capture of runaway slaves and their return to their owners in the South . Williams was opposed to slavery personally but , in the 1850 's , acknowledged the right of slave owners in the South to keep their slaves . He fully discharged his duties under the Fugitive Slave Act .   Death of Nancy Kemp Williams   Archibald Williams 's wife , Nancy Kemp Williams , died on March 16 , 1854 , giving birth to a daughter , Nancy Williams . The baby survived the birth and lived to be an adult . Archibald and Nancy Williams had been married for 22 years .   Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1854   In the early 1850 's , U.S. Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois sought the adoption of the Kansas and Nebraska acts . The bills provided for Kansas and Nebraska to become territories with provision for `` popular sovereignty , '' the idea that the citizens of each new territory would be allowed to vote on whether the territory should be slave or free . This produced a sharp reaction on the part of those opposed to slavery in the territories , because the Missouri Compromise of 1820 had stated that the lands that comprised Kansas and Nebraska should be free territory , not slave territory .   The result was the anti-Nebraska movement , which opposed popular sovereignty for Nebraska on the grounds that the citizens of the territory might vote for slavery and thereby spread slavery further into the territories . Archibald Williams and Abraham Lincoln both became anti-Nebraska men . For his part , Archibald Williams ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1854 on a strong anti-Nebraska platform .   Williams was running against incumbent Democratic Representative William A. Richardson , a formidable opponent . The U.S. House district that comprised Quincy , Illinois , was strongly Democratic . On the other hand , Richardson was a close political ally of Stephen Douglas and had strongly backed popular sovereignty for Nebraska in the U.S. House . Williams and his supporters hoped the wave of anti-Nebraska sentiment sweeping the northern states might just be strong enough to defeat Richardson , despite the strong Democratic voting tendency of the House district .   On October 31 , 1854 , Abraham Lincoln arrived in Quincy , Illinois , to give a speech in support of Archibald Williams 's candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives . It took two days for him to travel by railroad and stagecoach to Quincy . In a letter to a friend and political ally , Lincoln wrote : `` I am here now going to Quincy , to try to give Mr. -LSB- Archibald -RSB- Williams a little life . ''   Even with Abraham Lincoln 's help , Archibald Williams lost the election to William Richardson . The overall election was a success for the anti-Nebraska movement , however , as the anti-Nebraska forces won enough seats to gain a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives . After 1854 , Archibald Williams and Abraham Lincoln and other anti-Nebraskans took the lead in forming the Republican Party in Illinois around the issue of `` no slavery in the territories . ''   An Archibald Williams Committee Influences Lincoln   Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter in which he said he was ready to `` fuse '' with other anti-slavery groups according to `` principles '' adopted at a public meeting in Quincy , Illinois . The purpose of fusion was to bring many disparate anti-slavery groups together to form the Republican Party . Lincoln 's letter noted that the principles had been drawn up by a three-person committee led `` by Mr. Archibald Williams . '' The principles centered on the idea that Southern slave owners could keep their slaves but that slavery would be forbidden in the territories .   Archibald Williams and his committee either influenced Lincoln directly on `` fusion , '' or else they confirmed a position on `` fusion '' that Lincoln had already adopted .   At the United States Supreme Court   Archibald Williams argued a case before the United States Supreme Court on December 6 and 7 , 1855 . Orville Browning , Williams 's good friend from Quincy , Illinois , was the opposing lawyer . The issue in dispute dealt with rival claims for lands and centered on whether the question of `` bad faith '' in the matter should be decided by a judge or by a jury . The Court ruled in Wright v. Mattison that `` bad faith '' should not be decided by the judge but by the jury , which had been the precedent . The Court ordered the case to be retried in a lower court . The outcome was a victory for Browning and a loss for Williams .   The Beginnings of the Republican Party in Illinois   In 1856 , Archibald Williams was the temporary chairman at a major anti-Nebraska convention in Bloomington , Illinois . Williams led the convention until a permanent chairman had been elected . While attending the convention , Abraham Lincoln and Archibald Williams slept in the same bed at the Bloomington home of David Davis , a close friend of both men.A historian noted :   `` At Bloomington , Lincoln , Archibald Williams , his old associate in the Legislature , -LSB- and -RSB- T. Lyle Dickey , of Ottawa -LSB- Illinois -RSB- , a good lawyer , went to -LSB- David -RSB- Davis 's house and lived there during the Convention . Lincoln and Williams slept in one bed and Dickey and Whitney in another ... The course of the historic Bloomfield Convention was decisively influenced by the counsels that came from the steady men in the Davis House . ''   Although the name `` Republican '' was applied at a later date , the anti-Nebraska convention in Bloomington was considered the birthplace of the Republican Party in Illinois .   The Election of 1858   In 1858 , at a state party convention in Springfield , Illinois , Abraham Lincoln was nominated to be the Republican candidate for U.S. Senator from Illinois . A resolution passed at the convention stated that Lincoln `` was the first and only choice of the Republicans of Illinois for the U.S. Senate . ''   In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates in the 1858 Illinois U.S. Senate race , Democratic candidate Stephen Douglas attacked Lincoln three times for having been described as `` the first and only choice '' of Illinois Republicans for the Senate seat . All three times , Douglas pointed to Archibald Williams as an Illinois Republican who would have been an acceptable alternate choice to Lincoln in that contest .   Archibald Williams traveled and spoke throughout the state of Illinois in Lincoln 's behalf during the 1858 U.S. Senate race . A newspaper in Quincy , Illinois , allied with the Republican Party , printed : `` Old Archie Williams is doing good service for the Republican cause ... He has already spoken at Macomb , Oquawka , Monmouth , Cameron , Galesburg , and other points ... to large assemblages ; and everywhere , he has created enthusiasm and confidence among our friends and animated the lukewarm ... In the winter of his life ... Mr. Williams is found battling for the cause of Republicanism . ''   The Illinois state legislature chose Stephen Douglas over Abraham Lincoln in the 1858 U.S. Senate race . A close friend of Lincoln 's wrote : `` In January , 1859 , while the Democrats were celebrating the election of Stephen A. Douglas to the United States Senate , Archibald Williams ... came into Lincoln 's office and finding him writing said : ` Well , the Democrats are making a great noise over their victory . ' Looking up Lincoln replied : ` Yes , Archie , Douglas has taken this trick , but the game is not played out . ' ''   The Lincoln-Douglas debates became so well-known that Lincoln gave personally signed presentation copies of the debates to his best friends and political associates . The one given to Archibald Williams was inscribed in Lincoln 's handwriting : `` To Hon : Archibald Williams , with respects of A. Lincoln . '' It was one more sign of Lincoln 's close friendship and strong political alliance with Archibald Williams .   The Presidential Election of 1860   On December 25 , 1859 , a number of leading Republicans in Quincy , Illinois , including Archibald Williams , met with Horace Greeley , a prominent national journalist and editor of the New York Tribune . Greeley had famously stated `` Go west , young man . Go west ! '' Williams and the other Quincy Republicans talked to Greeley about Abraham Lincoln possibly becoming the Republican candidate for President in 1860 . Archibald Williams spoke throughout Illinois in behalf of Abraham Lincoln during Lincoln 's successful 1860 campaign for the White House in Washington , D.C.   Almost on the Supreme Court ,  Then U.S. District Judge in Kansas   Following his election to the U.S. presidency in 1860 , Abraham Lincoln offered Archibald Williams a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court . Williams refused the offer due to ill health and advanced age . Williams recommended that Lincoln appoint a younger court nominee who could live for more years and thereby serve longer on the Court .   Archibald Williams was then appointed by President Lincoln to be the Judge for the U.S. District Court of Kansas . Williams was the first person to hold the office of U.S. District Court Judge in Kansas , because Kansas had just been admitted to the Union as a state . Williams moved to Topeka , Kansas , the state capital , where he served more than two years as U.S. Judge . He moved back to Quincy , Illinois , shortly before his death on September 21 , 1863 .   During his tenure as the U.S. District Court Judge for Kansas , Archibald Williams worked on such issues as building a branch of the transcontinental railroad across Kansas , fair treatment of Native Americans in railroad matters , and the loyalty to the Union cause of a U.S. Army officer stationed in Kansas . Also while in Kansas , Williams married his second wife , Ellen M. Parker , on September 24 , 1861 . The marriage lasted a little less than two years until Archibald Williams death .   While serving as the U.S. Judge for Kansas , Archibald Williams traveled to Washington , D.C. , and , on May 29 , 1962 , paid a last visit to his old friend Abraham Lincoln in the White House .   Death and Burial of Archibald Williams   Archibald Williams was praised in obituaries as a leading attorney in Illinois in the mid-19th Century . His many political and governmental activities were noted , along with his deep friendship with Abraham Lincoln . The bar association in Quincy , Illinois , donated a large marble grave marker for Williams . The base of the marker was a stack of law books ; an obelisk was placed on top of the law books . He was buried in Woodland Cemetery in Quincy , Illinois , at a grave site that overlooks the Mississippi River .

neg: United States presidential election in Pennsylvania, 1864 The 1864 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 8 , 1864 , as part of the 1864 United States presidential election . Voters chose 26 representatives , or electors to the Electoral College , who voted for President and Vice President .   Pennsylvania voted for the National Union candidate , Abraham Lincoln , over the Democratic candidate , George B. McClellan . Lincoln won Pennsylvania by a margin of 3.5 % .

neg: United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress which , along with the United States House of Representatives , the lower chamber , composes the legislature of the United States of America .   The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution . The Senate is composed of senators who represent each of the several states , with each state being equally represented by two senators , regardless of their population , serving staggered terms of six years ; with fifty states presently in the Union , there are 100 U.S. Senators . From 1789 until 1913 , Senators were appointed by legislatures of the states they represented ; following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913 , they are now popularly elected . The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol , in Washington , D.C.   As the upper house , the Senate has several powers of advice and consent which are unique to it ; these include the ratification of treaties , the confirmation of Cabinet secretaries , Supreme Court justices , federal judges , other federal executive officials , flag officers , regulatory officials , ambassadors , and other federal uniformed officers . In addition to these , in cases wherein no candidate receives a majority of electors for Vice President , the duty befalls upon the Senate to elect one of the top two recipients of electors for that office . It further has the responsibility of conducting trials of those impeached by the House . The Senate is widely considered both a more deliberative and more prestigious body than the House of Representatives due to its longer terms , smaller size , and statewide constituencies , which historically led to a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere .   The presiding officer of the Senate is the Vice President of the United States , who is President of the Senate ; in their absence , the President Pro Tempore , who is customarily the senior member of the controlling party , presides over the Senate . In the early 20th century , the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began , although they are not constitutional officers .

neg: Edward Everett Edward Everett ( April 11 , 1794 -- January 15 , 1865 ) was an American politician , pastor , educator , diplomat , and orator from Massachusetts . Everett , a Whig , served as U.S. Representative , U.S. Senator , the 15th Governor of Massachusetts , Minister to Great Britain , and United States Secretary of State . He also taught at Harvard University and served as its president .   Everett was one of the great American orators of the antebellum and Civil War eras . He is often remembered today as the featured orator at the dedication ceremony of the Gettysburg National Cemetery in 1863 , where he spoke for over two hoursimmediately before President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous , two-minute Gettysburg Address .   The son of a pastor , Everett was educated at Harvard , and briefly ministered at Boston 's Brattle Street Church before taking a teaching job at Harvard . The position included preparatory studies in Europe , so Everett spent two years in studies at the University of Göttingen , and another two years traveling around Europe . At Harvard he taught ancient Greek literature for several years before becoming involved in politics , and began an extensive and popular speaking career . He served ten years in the United States Congress before winning election as Governor of Massachusetts in 1835 . As governor he introduced the state Board of Education , the first of its type in the nation .   After being defeated in the 1839 election by one vote , Everett was appointed Minister to Great Britain , serving until 1845 . He next became President of Harvard , a job he quickly came to dislike . In 1849 he became an assistant to longtime friend and colleague Daniel Webster , who had been appointed Secretary of State . Upon Webster 's death Everett served as Secretary of State for a few months until he was sworn in as U.S. Senator from Massachusetts . In the later years of his life Everett traveled , giving speeches all over the country . He supported efforts to maintain the Union before the Civil War , running for Vice President on the Constitutional Union Party ticket in 1860 . He was active in supporting the Union effort during the war and supported Lincoln in the 1864 election .

neg: Inauguration of Andrew Johnson The inauguration of Andrew Johnson as the 17th President of the United States was held on April 15 , 1865 at the Kirkwood House in Washington , D.C. , following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln . The inauguration marked the commencement of Andrew Johnson 's only term ( a partial term of ) as President . Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase administered the Oath of office . After the ceremony , President Johnson gave an impromptu inaugural address , which began with him begging the cabinet to remain with him and then attacking the Confederacy with such venom , that one witness remarked `` It would have been better had he been struck dumb . ''   As President Lincoln lay dying , Vice President Johnson visited the room where he lay , and when Mrs. Lincoln saw him , it was reported , she screamed and demanded he be removed . So he went back to his room at the Kirkwood House .   According to newspaper reports , the Vice President had gotten severely inebriated , and when aides to the now-dead president came to fetch the new President they were unable to wake him for several minutes . When he was finally awake , the accounts read , `` he had puffy eyes and his hair was caked with mud from the street , '' and that a barber and doctor were summoned to clean him up for the ten-o'clock ceremony , which most accounts agree went smoothly . However , there are other accounts , believed more reliable by some , which refute this claim .

neg: America's Critical Period The term America 's Critical Period , popularized by John Fiske in 1888 with his book The Critical Period of American History , refers to the period of United States history in the 1780s , right after the American Revolution , where the future of the newly formed nation was in the balance . More specifically , the `` Critical Period '' refers to the period of time following the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the inauguration of George Washington as President in 1789 . The phrase was first used to describe this era ( unbeknownst to Fiske ) by William Henry Trescot in his 1857 book The Diplomatic History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams .   During the 1780s , the loose confederation of states was beset with a wide array of foreign and domestic problems . Some historians believe it was a bleak , terrible time for Americans , while others such as Merrill Jensen believe the term `` Critical Period '' is exaggerated , and that , while the decade a time of dispute and change , they were also a time of economic growth and political maturation .

neg: List of Presidents of the United States who were Freemasons Of the 44 people who have been President of the United States , roughly one-third ( 14 , or by some counts 15 * ) were Freemasons . Along with the presidents listed below , Lyndon Johnson had been initiated into the 1st Degree of Freemasonry ( an `` Entered Apprentice '' ) but did not advance any further and did not become a full member of his lodge , Ronald Reagan was made an honorary Freemason , and Bill Clinton as a youth was a member of the Order of DeMolay .   * - Because of LBJ 's initiation into the fraternal organization , many lists of Freemason Presidents include him , with a total of 15 .   ( It can also be noted that some historians state that David Rice Atchison , member of Platte Lodge No. 56 , Mo , served as `` Ex-officio president '' for one day : March 4 , 1849 . )


query: O. J. Simpson was on trial.

pos: O. J. Simpson Orenthal James `` O. J. '' Simpson ( born July 9 , 1947 ) , nicknamed The Juice , is a former American football running back , broadcaster , actor , and convicted armed robber and kidnapper .   Simpson attended the University of Southern California ( USC ) , where he played college football for the USC Trojans and won the Heisman Trophy in 1968 . He played professionally in the National Football League ( NFL ) as a running back for 11 seasons , with the Buffalo Bills from 1969 to 1977 and with the San Francisco 49ers from 1978 to 1979 . In 1973 , he became the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season ; holding the record for the single season yards-per-game average , which stands at 143.1 . He is the only player to ever rush for over 2,000 yards in the 14-game regular season NFL format .   Simpson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 . After retiring from football , he began new careers in acting and football broadcasting .   In 1995 , Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman after a lengthy and internationally publicised trial . The families of the victims filed a civil suit against him , and in 1997 a civil court awarded a $ 33.5 million judgment against Simpson for the victims ' wrongful deaths .   In 2007 , Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas , Nevada , and charged with felonies including armed robbery and kidnapping . In 2008 , he was convicted and sentenced to 33 years imprisonment , with a minimum of nine years without parole . He is serving his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock , Nevada .

neg: Shooting of Laquan McDonald The shooting of Laquan McDonald took place on October 20 , 2014 , in Chicago , Illinois . McDonald , in possession of a 3-inch folding knife , was shot by former Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke from approximately ten feet ( 3 m ) away . After investigation , Officer Van Dyke was charged in November 2015 with first-degree murder and initially held without bail at the Cook County Jail . He was released on bail on November 30 . The city reached a settlement with McDonald 's family .   Subsequent protests denounced McDonald 's death and demanded changes in police and judicial procedure , and for the dismissal or resignation of city and county officials . Cook 's County State Attorney Anita Alvarez lost her bid for re-election in 2016 , but Rahm Emanuel won a second term in 2015 as Mayor of Chicago .   At the request of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan , the United States Department of Justice initiated a civil rights investigation into McDonald 's death and the activities of the Chicago Police Department . It released its report in January 2017 , describing the police as having a culture of `` excessive violence , '' especially against minority suspects , and of having poor training and supervision . DOJ and city officials have signed an agreement for a plan for improvement to be overseen by the courts .

neg: McGautha v. California McGautha v. California , 402 U.S. 183 ( 1971 ) is a criminal case heard by the United States Supreme Court , in which the Court held that the lack of legal standards by which juries imposed the death penalty was not an unconstitutional violation of the due process clause portion of the Eighth Amendment . Justice Harlan wrote that writing rules for jury death penalty decisions was beyond current human ability . The context was public and philosophical scrutiny of the unequal application of the death penalty , especially in that black who killed whites were much more likely to have a death penalty imposed . McGautha was overruled one year later by Furman v. Georgia , which held that sentencing discretion must be narrowed `` so as to minimize the risk of wholly arbitrary and capricious action . ''

neg: Harmelin v. Michigan Harmelin v. Michigan , 501 U.S. 957 ( 1991 ) , was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution . The Court ruled that the Eighth Amendment 's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause allowed a state to impose a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the possession of 672 grams of cocaine .   The Court 's narrow ruling left a major question of Eighth Amendment law unresolved . Since the Court 's decision in Gregg v. Georgia , 428 U.S. 153 ( 1976 ) , the Court had incorporated a detailed proportionality analysis into the cruel and unusual punishment analysis required in capital cases . The defendant in Harmelin directly asked the Court to extend the reach of that analysis to noncapital cases such as his . Although five Justices agreed that Harmelin 's sentence was not unconstitutionally cruel and unusual , six Justices agreed that the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause bore some kind of proportionality analysis . Yet among those six , three supported a proportionality principle that is highly deferential to legislative judgments , while three others supported a more searching proportionality analysis that would have struck down Michigan 's mandatory life-without-parole sentence for possessing more than 650 grams of cocaine .   The State of Michigan was represented by Richard Thompson and Michael Modelski . Thompson 's other credits include serving as a prosecutor of Dr. Jack Kevorkian . Various state attorneys general , as well as the United States Solicitor General , filed amicus curiae briefs on behalf of the State of Michigan . The Court-appointed counsel for Harmelin , the ACLU and a group of criminal defense attorneys filed briefs in support of the defendant 's position .

neg: Pohl trial The Pohl trial against the Nazi German administration of the `` Final Solution '' ( also known as the WVHA Trial and officially The United States of America vs. Oswald Pohl , et al ) was the fourth of the twelve trials for war crimes that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II . The twelve trials were all held before U.S. military courts , not before the International Military Tribunal , although both courts presided in the same rooms at the Palace of Justice . They are known collectively as the `` Subsequent Nuremberg Trials '' or more formally , as the `` Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals '' ( NMT ) .   In the Pohl case , SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl and 17 other SS officers employed by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office ( abbreviated in German as SS-WVHA ) , were tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the time of the Nazi regime . The main charge against them was their active involvement in and administration of the `` Final Solution '' . The WVHA was the Nazi government office that ran the concentration and extermination camps . It also handled the procurement for the Waffen SS and , as of 1942 , the administration of the SS-Totenkopfverbände .   The judges in this case , heard before Military Tribunal II , were Robert M. Toms ( presiding judge ) , Fitzroy Donald Phillips , Michael A. Musmanno , and John J. Speight as an alternate judge . The Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution was Telford Taylor ; James M. McHaney and Jack W. Robbins were the principal prosecutors . The indictment was presented on January 13 , 1947 ; the trial began on April 8 , and sentences were handed down on November 3 , 1947 . Four persons , including Oswald Pohl , were sentenced to death by hanging . Three were acquitted . The others received sentences of imprisonment between 10 years and lifetime .   At the request of the judges , the court reconvened on July 14 , 1948 to consider additional material presented by the defense . On August 11 , 1948 , the tribunal issued its final sentences , confirming most of its earlier sentences , but slightly reducing some of the prison sentences and changing the death sentence of Georg Lörner into a sentence of life imprisonment .

neg: Death row Death row is a special section of a prison in the United States that houses inmates who are awaiting execution after being sentenced to death for the conviction of a capital crime . The US is the only Western country that still applies the death penalty for capital crimes . Thirty-one of its 50 states and the federal government authorize this penalty . But by 2016 , sixteen of these states and the federal government had a formal or `` de facto '' moratorium , due in large part to questions about the death penalty itself or the use of lethal injection as a method of execution .   `` Death row '' is a term also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ( `` being on death row '' ) , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists . After a person is found guilty of a capital offense , the judge will give the jury the option of imposing a death sentence or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole ( LWOP ) . It is up to a jury to decide whether to give the death sentence ; this usually has to be a unanimous decision . If sentenced to death , a convict will remain on death row during appeal and habeas corpus procedures , which can take years . Since 1973 and later , with an increasing number of persons being freed since 1993 , some 157 persons as of January 2017 have been exonerated on appeal and released from death row . Wrongful convictions have been proven based on DNA evidence , informants retracting testimony or being proven false , prosecutorial misconduct , racial bias in jury selection , and other constitutional issues .

neg: Gerald O'Leary Gerald F. `` Gerry '' O'Leary was an American politician from South Boston , Massachusetts .   O'Leary was born on August 7 , 1932 , in Boston . He attended English High School of Boston , College of the Holy Cross , and Portia Law School . A student athlete , O'Leary ran the 400 metres at English and played running back for the Holy Cross football team .   O'Leary represented the 5th Suffolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1965 to 1969 . He then went on to serve on the Boston City Council from 1968 to 1975 . He was the Council 's President in 1969 and from 1974 to 1975 . He ran for the United States Senate in 1972 , but lost to Middlesex County District Attorney John J. Droney in the Democratic primary . In 1979 , he was elected to the Boston School Committee . He resigned on October 4 , 1980 , after being arrested and charged with attempting to extort a $ 650,000 kickback from a school bus company . He pleaded guilty to violating the Hobbs Act and was sentenced to eighteen months in prison .   O'Leary died on May 23 , 2014 , at his home in Quincy , Massachusetts .

neg: Sub judice In law , sub judice , Latin for `` under judgment '' , means that a particular case or matter is under trial or being considered by a judge or court . The term may be used synonymously with `` the present case '' or `` the case at bar '' by some lawyers .   In England and Wales , Ireland , New Zealand , Australia , South Africa , Bangladesh , India , Pakistan , Canada , Sri Lanka , and Israel it is generally considered inappropriate to comment publicly on cases sub judice , which can be an offence in itself , leading to contempt of court proceedings . This is particularly true in criminal cases , where publicly discussing cases sub judice may constitute interference with due process .   In English law , the term was correctly used to describe material which would prejudice court proceedings by publication before 1981 . Sub judice is now irrelevant to journalists because of the introduction of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 . Under Section 2 of the Act , a substantial risk of serious prejudice can only be created by a media report when proceedings are active . Proceedings become active when there is an arrest , oral charge , issue of a warrant , or a summons .   In the United States , there are First Amendment concerns about stifling the right of free speech which prevent such tight restrictions on comments sub judice . However , State Rules of Professional Conduct governing attorneys often place restrictions on the out-of-court statements an attorney may make regarding an ongoing case . Furthermore , there are still protections for criminal defendants , and those convicted in an atmosphere of a media circus have had their convictions overturned for a fairer trial .

neg: Kenneth McGriff Kenneth `` Supreme '' McGriff ( born September 19 , 1960 ) is a convicted American drug trafficker and organized crime figure .   McGriff came to prominence in the early 1980s when he formed his own crack distributing organization which he called the Supreme Team based in the South Jamaica section of Queens , New York . Under McGriff 's leadership , the gang 's numbers swelled to the hundreds and came to control the crack cocaine trade in the Baisley Park Houses , the neighborhood where McGriff was raised .   In 1987 , McGriff was arrested following a joint state and federal investigation and in 1989 pleaded guilty to engaging in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise . He was sentenced to 12 years incarceration . McGriff was released from prison on parole in early 1994 after serving approximately seven years of his sentence . He was sent back to prison on parole violations by year 's end , and served another 2 1/2 years ' incarceration before being released in 1997 .   McGriff is alleged to have had a hand in the 2002 murder of Run D.M.C. member Jam Master Jay , and was convicted of ordering the 2001 killing of Mobb Deep affiliate E-Moneybags ( real name Eric Smith ) . Federal authorities also accused him in connection with the attempted murder of 50 Cent . Persistent rumors suggest that McGriff felt 50 Cent had exposed too much of the drug kingpin in Jamaica , Queens and others involved in the drug trade through the lyrics of his song `` Ghetto Qu ` ran '' released in 2000 .   On February 1 , 2007 McGriff was convicted of murder-for-hire at a Federal court in the Eastern District of New York on charges that he paid $ 50,000 to have two rivals ( Eric Smith and `` Big Nose '' Troy Singleton ) gunned down in 2001 . The jury deliberated for five days before finding McGriff guilty of murder conspiracy and drug trafficking . On February 9 , 2007 , the same jury sentenced McGriff to life in prison . Throughout this case he was defended by a court-appointed attorney because nearly all of his assets had been seized .   McGriff began serving his life sentence at ADX Florence , the federal supermax prison in Colorado , but in 2011 was transferred to the United States Penitentiary , Lee , a high-security federal prison in Pennington Gap , Virginia .

neg: Crime Victims' Rights Act The Crime Victims ' Rights Act , 18 U.S.C. § 3771 , is part of the United States Justice for All Act of 2004 , Pub . L. No. 108-405 , 118 Stat . 2260 ( effective Oct. 30 , 2004 ) . The CVRA enumerates the rights afforded to victims in federal criminal cases . The Act grants victims the following eight rights :   The right to be reasonably protected from the accused .  The right to reasonable , accurate , and timely notice of any public court proceeding , or any parole proceeding , involving the crime or of any release or escape of the accused. ,  The right not to be excluded from any such public court proceeding , unless the court , after receiving clear and convincing evidence , determines that testimony by the victim would be materially altered if the victim heard other testimony at that proceeding .  The right to be reasonably heard at any public proceeding in the district court involving release , plea , sentencing , or any parole proceeding .  The reasonable right to confer with the attorney for the Government in the case .  The right to full and timely restitution as provided in law .  The right to proceedings free from unreasonable delay .  The right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the victim 's dignity and privacy .   The Crime Victims ' Rights Act was named for Scott Campbell , Stephanie Roper , Wendy Preston , Louarna Gillis , and Nila Lynn , murder victims whose families were denied some or all of the rights granted by the Act in the course of their cases .

neg: Christopher Peterson (serial killer) Obadyah Ben-Yisrayl ( born Christopher Dwayne Peterson January 20 , 1969 ) is an American man found guilty of committing four murders and acquitted on three other murder charges related to the `` Shotgun Killer '' spree in Indiana from October 30 , 1990 to December 18 , 1990 .   The murders took place in a number of jurisdictions , and Peterson faced a number of trials in different venues . Peterson had initially confessed and then recanted . He was acquitted in two trials for three of the murders and found guilty of four murders in two subsequent trials . Initially sentenced to death for those murders , his death sentence was commuted in 2004 . Ronald J. Harris was also charged and found guilty in two of the murders .   The incident is controversial for a number of reasons such as Peterson is African American , while the initial descriptions of the suspect of the murders was described as white ; Peterson had been illegally arrested for committing another crime which impacted the use of evidence in the `` Shotgun Killer '' spree trials because it was deemed improperly collected ; Peterson 's initial confession was recanted under claims of duress ; the trials with all-white juries came to different conclusions than juries which included people of other races ; and in the final case to go to trial , the judge over-ruled the jury 's decision not to impose the death penalty .

neg: Reasonable doubt Reasonable doubt is a term used in jurisdiction of Anglo-Saxon countries . Evidence that is beyond reasonable doubt is the standard of evidence required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems .   Generally , prosecutors bear the burden of proof and are required to prove their version of events to this standard . This means that the proposition being presented by the prosecution must be proven to the extent that there could be no `` reasonable doubt '' in the mind of a `` reasonable person '' that the defendant is guilty . There can still be a doubt , but only to the extent that it would not affect a reasonable person 's belief regarding whether or not the defendant is guilty . Beyond `` the shadow of a doubt '' is sometimes used interchangeably with beyond reasonable doubt , but this extends beyond the latter , to the extent that it may be considered an impossible standard . The term `` reasonable doubt '' is therefore used .   If doubt does affect a `` reasonable person 's '' belief that the defendant is guilty , the jury is not satisfied beyond `` reasonable doubt '' . The precise meaning of words such as `` reasonable '' and `` doubt '' are usually defined within jurisprudence of the applicable country . A related idea is Blackstone 's formulation `` It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer '' .   Beyond a reasonable doubt is the highest burden of proof in any court in the United States . Criminal cases must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt .

neg: Edmund Simpson Edmund Simpson ( b. England , 1784 ; d. New York City , 31 July 1848 ) was an actor and theater manager . He made his theatrical début at the Towcester Theatre in England in May 1806 as Baron Steinfort in August von Kotzebue 's The Stranger . In this country Simpson first appeared at the New York Park Theatre on 22 October 1809 , as Hurry Dornton in The Road to Ruin . In 1828 , when playing lead role in The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus , one of his legs was broken by an accident to the stage machinery , and he was crippled for life . His last performance was Dazzle in London Assurance . As a comedian , Simpson was studious and painstaking , and in his delineations intelligent and respectable , but there was ever attached to his representations a hardness of manner that interfered with his popularity .   In 1810 he became stage manager , and remained permanently connected with the one playhouse as actor , stage manager , and manager for 38 years . It was his privilege to introduce nearly all the noted British players of his day to American audiences . From 1821 until 1840 Simpson was working-manager to Stephen Price , the lessee of the theatre , but on the death of Price he assumed the sole management . During his career he went through several trials of adversity , and finally retired , 6 June 1848 , under discouragement and in reduced circumstances .   Under Simpson 's direction the old Park Theatre , or `` The Theatre , '' as the show-bills named it , was noted for its well-drilled and efficient stock company . The scenery of this noted resort was made up of flats and drops of the simplest construction , the properties were cheap , worn , and few in number , the costumes flimsy and tinselled , and the auditorium , before the rising of the curtain , usually filled with the stifling leakage of gas . The boxes were painted in white and gold , with the first and second tiers divided into a series of screened lock-boxes .   A separate stairway led to the third tier and the gallery . This third tier was an assembling-place for the dissolute of both sexes ; one half the gallery was patronized by boys , servants , and sailors , and the remainder was devoted to the accommodation of Negroes . What is now known as the parterre was called the pit . It was fitted with hard wooden benches , and the admission to it was half-price . Here the bachelors , critics , and wits of the day found their places . Drinking bars , united with apple , pie , and peanut stands , were connected with the pit and the upper tier of boxes .   As Frances Trollope has truly pictured , it was not an uncommon thing to see men rise on the front rows of the dress-circle in their shirt-sleeves , and between the acts turn their backs to the audience , while their better-halves sat munching apples and peeling oranges . Not seldom the entertainments of an evening comprised a five-act tragedy , a comedy , and an olio diversion , that terminated at twelve or one o'clock . The old Park Theatre was a wooden , barn-like structure , fronting about eighty feet on Park row , and rising to the height of sixty or seventy feet , painted in imitation of blocks of granite .

neg: Los Angeles Times bombing The Los Angeles Times bombing was the purposeful dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times building in Los Angeles , California , on October 1 , 1910 by a union member belonging to the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers . The explosion started a fire which killed 21 newspaper employees and injured 100 more . It was termed the `` crime of the century '' by the Times .   Brothers John J. ( `` J.J. '' ) and James B. ( `` J.B. '' ) McNamara were arrested in April 1911 for the bombing . Their trial became a cause célèbre for the American labor movement . J.B. admitted to setting the explosive , and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison . J.J. was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bombing a local iron manufacturing plant , and returned to the Iron Workers union as an organizer .

neg: Estes v. Texas Estes v. Texas , 381 U.S. 532 ( 1965 ) , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court overturned the fraud conviction of petitioner Billy Sol Estes , holding that his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights had been violated by the publicity associated with the pretrial hearing , which had been carried live on both television and radio . News photography was permitted throughout the trial and parts of it were broadcast as well .   There was no doubt that the Court was displeased with the intensive pretrial and trial coverage , but its biggest concern was the presence of cameras at the two-day-long pretrial hearing . It included at least 12 still and television photographers , three microphones on the judge 's bench , and several aimed at the jury 's box and attorney 's table . When it was time for the trial to be held , it was moved about 500 miles away and the judge had imposed rather severe restrictions on press coverage . However , the justices did mark the notion that cameras would return to courtrooms eventually :  It is said that the ever-advancing techniques of public communication and the adjustment of the public to its presence may bring about a change in the effect of telecasting upon the fairness of criminal trials . But we are not dealing here with future developments in the field of electronics . Our judgment can not be rested on the hypothesis of tomorrow but must take the facts as they are presented today . '' The Supreme Court ruled in Chandler v. Florida , 449 U.S. 560 ( 1981 ) that a state could allow the broadcast and still photography coverage of criminal trials .

neg: Capital punishment in Ohio Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Ohio .

neg: John C. Woods John Clarence Woods ( June 5 , 1911 -- July 21 , 1950 ) was a United States Army master sergeant who , with Joseph Malta , carried out the Nuremberg executions of ten former top leaders of the Third Reich on October 16 , 1946 , after they were sentenced to death at the Nuremberg Trials . Time magazine credited him with 347 executions to that date during a 15-year career . According to recent research , a number of 60 to 70 over a period of two years is more credible .   Born in Wichita , Kansas , Woods joined the US Navy on December 3 , 1929 , and went absent without leave within months . He was convicted at a general court martial and subsequently examined by a psychiatric board on April 23 , 1930 . He was diagnosed with `` Constitutional Psychopathic Inferiority without Psychosis '' , was found `` poor service material '' and discharged . Before being inducted into the United States Army in August 1943 , Woods was intermittently employed in construction as a laborer , and was working part-time at a feed-store in Eureka , Kansas , when he was registered for Selective Service in 1940 . He was married to a nurse , Hazel Woods , but had no children .   Before D-Day , American military executions by hanging in the European Theater of Operations occurred in England only and were performed by the civilian executioner Thomas Pierrepoint with assistance by Albert Pierrepoint and other British personnel . When in autumn of 1944 military executions by hanging were scheduled in France , the Army looked for a volunteer enlisted hangman and found Woods , who falsely claimed previous experience as assistant hangman in two cases in Texas and two in Oklahoma -- there is no evidence that the U.S. Army made any attempt to verify Woods ' claims . In fact , Woods had no documented pre-war experience as a hangman . Woods at that time was a private and a member of the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion . He was promoted to master sergeant and transferred to Paris Disciplinary Training Center . Woods performed as the primary executioner in the hangings of 34 American soldiers at various locations in France over 1944 -- 1945 , and assisted in at least three others . U.S. Army reports suggest that Woods participated in at least 11 bungled hangings of US soldiers between 1944 and 1946 .   Woods also participated in the execution of about forty-five war criminals at various locations which included Rheinbach , Bruchsal , Landsberg , and Nuremberg , however Donald E. Wilkes Jr. , a professor of law at the University of Georgia Law School , noted that many of the executed Nazis fell from the gallows with a drop insufficient to snap their necks , resulting in their death by suffocation that in some cases lasted several minutes .   After the Nuremberg executions , Woods stated :   While serving with the 7th Engineer Brigade in Eniwetok , Marshall Islands , on July 21 , 1950 , Woods was accidentally electrocuted while attempting to repair an engineer lighting set . He is buried in Toronto Township Cemetery , Toronto , Kansas .

neg: Strike for cause Strike for cause ( also referred to as challenge for cause or removal for cause ) is a method of eliminating potential members from a jury panel in the United States .   During the jury selection process , after voir dire , opposing attorneys may request removal of any juror who does not appear capable of rendering a fair and impartial verdict , in either determining guilt or innocence and/or a suitable punishment . An example would be a potential juror in a murder case , where the sentencing options include the death penalty and a lesser sentence ( such as life without parole ) , who states that s/he `` would sentence a defendant to death if found guilty '' ; such a statement may indicate the person 's unwillingness to fairly consider a life without parole sentence .   Unlike a peremptory challenge ( the number of which are limited by the court during voir dire , and unless a Batson challenge is raised the challenge is automatically granted ) there is no limit to the number of strikes for cause that attorneys on either side of a case can be granted . However , also unlike a peremptory challenge , a strike for cause must state a specific reason ( in the example above , the reason would be the juror 's bias against a non-death penalty sentence ) and be granted by the trial judge ; often both attorneys and sometimes the judge will question the juror being challenged .   If one attorney moves to strike a juror for cause but the judge rejects the motion , the attorney may still use a peremptory challenge ( if s/he has any remaining ) to strike the juror , and on appeal may raise a claim that the motion should have been granted but , because it was not , the attorney had to either use a peremptory challenge or seat a biased juror .

neg: Georgia v. McCollum Georgia v. McCollum , 505 U.S. 42 ( 1992 ) , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that a criminal defendant can not make peremptory challenges based solely on race . The court had previously held in Batson v. Kentucky ( 1986 ) that prosecutors can not make peremptory challenges based on race , but did n't address whether defendants could use them . The court had already ruled in Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Company ( 1991 ) that the Batson prohibition also applies to civil litigants because they are state actors during the jury selection process .   However , in Polk County v. Dodson , , the court had held that a public defender is not a state actor in the context of a lawsuit for inadequate legal representation . McCollum argued that Polk County was the controlling precedent , so public defenders are not state actors during jury selection . Writing for the court , Justice Harry Blackmun disagreed . Blackmun found that whether a public defender is a state actor `` depends on the nature and context of the function he is performing . '' Just as he is a state actor in the context of personnel decisions like hiring and firing attorneys in his office , a public defender is a state actor in the context of peremptory challenges . Like in Edmonson , Blackmun found that race-based peremptory challenges by the defendant violate the Equal Protection Clause and are therefore unconstitutional .

neg: Sunshine in the Courtroom Act The Sunshine in the Courtroom Act is a bill to allow the broadcasting of U.S. District Court and U.S. Court of Appeals proceedings . The name of the bill is an apparent reference to Louis Brandeis ' remark that `` sunshine is the best disinfectant '' for ill-doings . The proposed act relates to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53 , which states , `` Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules , the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom . ''   The bill was introduced in 2005 , 2007 , 2008 , and 2009 . The 2009 bill was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee . The Senate version is S. 657 , and the House version is H.R. 3054 . In 2009 , the Judicial Council of the 9th Circuit expressed interest in televising certain proceedings .   In Congressional testimony , Ted Poe stated : When I was Assistant District Attorney , I spent my career trying criminal cases , and based on my experiences , I actually feel the cameras in the courtroom benefit a defendant . A public trial ensures fairness . That is the purpose of a public trial . It ensures professionalism by the lawyers and the judge , and a camera in the courtroom protects the defendant 's right to a public trial . Poe also opined that lawyers play to the jury , not to the camera , and that jurors stated they liked the camera inside the courtroom because they wanted the public to know what they heard `` instead of waiting to hear a 30-second sound bite from a newscaster who may or may not have the facts correct . '' Judge John R. Tunheim opposed the bill , stating that it could deny some defendants a fair trial ; e.g. a defendant corporation might forgo its right to a trial because it does not want its president to be cross-examined on television . He also expressed concern that televising trials could increase the incidence of threats against federal judges .

neg: Kato Kaelin Brian Gerard `` Kato '' Kaelin ( -LSB- ˈkeɪtoʊ_ˈkeɪlɪn -RSB- born March 9 , 1959 ) is an American radio and television personality who gained fame as a witness during the 1994 -- 95 murder trial of O. J. Simpson .