.... 2003, after "'nonstop'" negotiations, the General Council of the World Trade Organization agreed to let developing countries to import generic drugs without violating patent rights with regard to those drugs. Many lauded the accord, given the mouthful-of-a-title "Implementation of paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and public health." But others, among them Ellen 't Hoen, coordinator of a medicine-access campaign for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, said that the agreement "offers little comfort for poor patients," for the reason that "[g]lobal patent rules 
will continue to drive up the price of medicines."... 1967 (40 years ago today), "[a]fter lengthy and often very heated debate the Senate confirmed the appointment" of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court. He became the 1st African-American person to serve on the country's highest court. (Mightn't he have been the 1st person of African ancestry to serve on any supreme court outside of Africa?) Marshall (left), who'd appeared frequently before the Court to argue landmark civil rights cases and then as Solicitor General, served as an Associate Justice for 23 years. He died at age 86 in 1993. (portrait by Simmie L. Knox from the Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States)
