On February 22

On this day in ...

... 1986 (25 years ago today), what soon would come to be called the "People Power" movement began in the Philippines. (It's an anniversary with special resonance this year of "North African People Power.") Precipitating events was a Presidential election after which longtime dictator Ferdinand Marcos (prior posts) refused to step down despite contentions that his opponent, Corazon Aquino, had won. On this day couple "senior members" of his government called for Marcos to step down. Soon "hundreds of thousands of civilians responded to calls for an uprising" -- one that would force the autocrat and his wife, Imelda Marcos, to flee (leaving behind her 2,700 pairs of shoes). (photo credit) He died in Hawaii in 1989; Aquino in Manila in 2009. Imelda Marcos opened a museum filled with her shoes in 2001; she remains mired in corruption lawsuits to this day.

(Prior February 22 posts are here, here, here, and here.)

In passing: Corazon Aquino

(In passing marks the memory of a person featured in IntLawGrrls) In Manila yesterday, Corazon Aquino died from cancer at age 76. Noting her role in a milestone event on February 25, 1986, we posted a while back:

Corazon Aquino (left) was sworn in as the 1st woman President of the Philippines. The move culminated what was called the People Power Revolution, which sent into Hawaiian exile longtime dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He'd threatened to stage a ceremony swearing himself back into power; he changed course, however, after the United States withdrew its support of him. Aquino, who had entered politics after the 1983 killing of her husband Benigno, a dissident leader, held office until 1992.

The tenure of Asia's 1st woman President was difficult, as detailed in her obituary -- not in the least because of the 6 coup attempts she withstood in as many years. Nonetheless, the person who posted this video clip of her swearing-in called it among "proudest moments in Philippine history." Also worth a look: this video clip of her calling for Marcos' resignation. For her role in returning democracy to the Philippines -- a country that had been subjected to Marcos' dictatorial rule for 2 decades -- she will not soon be forgotten.

On this day

On February 25, ...
... 1986, in Manila, Corazon Aquino (left) was sworn in as the 1st woman President of the Philippines. The move culminated what was called the People Power Revolution, which sent into Hawaiian exile longtime dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He'd threatened to stage a ceremony swearing himself back into power; he changed course, however, after the United States withdrew its support of him. Aquino, who had entered politics after the 1983 killing of her husband Benigno, a dissident leader, held office until 1992. Litigation stemming from human rights violations during the Marcos regime continues; indeed, as we've posted, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear 1 such case. Argument in Republic of Philippines v. Pimentel is set for March 17, 2008.
... 1956, in an effort to dispel "the 'Stalin cult' that has held Soviet citizens in its thrall for 30 years," Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev "denounced Joseph Stalin as a brutal despot" in a speech before the 20th Congress of the Communist Party.

Transnational docket grows: Supreme Court to sort out contest over Marcos assets

Even as it heard argument in a 3d round of Guantánamo litigation -- litigation that took on new wrinkles (here and here) in light of revelations that the CIA destroyed videotapes of interrogations of certain high-value detainees, documents no doubt relevant in detainee cases -- twice last week the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the transnational character of its OT '07 docket.
The 1st of 2 transnational cases the Court's agreed to hear next spring is Philippines v. Pimentel, a dispute over the assets of the onetime dictator of the island state, Ferdinand E. Marcos, who died in 1989 in Hawaii, having fled his country in 1986. (Marcos is pictured above with his wife, Imelda.) At issue, according to SCOTUSblog: "about $35 million held in a Merrill Lynch account for a Panamanian corporation, Arelma S.A." In a 2006 panel decision written by Judge John T. Noonan, the U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's award of funds to plaintiffs who'd won an Alien Tort Statute class action against the Marcos estate; in so doing, the courts turned back a bid by the Republic of the Philippines to be treated as a party to the litigation. Among the issues at play in the case, in which the United States has entered as amicus in support of the Philippines, is application of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
Details on the 2d just-granted case tomorrow.

On September 23, ...

... 1972 (35 years ago today), Ferdinand Marcos, who 3 years earlier had become his country's 1st President to be elected to a 2d term, made a public announcement, carried on radio and television, of his decision to declare martial law in the Philippines. He would flee the country in 1986; his exile was followed a decade later by Hilao v. Estate of Marcos, litigation brought in the United States pursuant to the Alien Tort Statute.
... 1869, Mary Mallon was born in Ireland. She immigrated to the United States at around age 15, and soon became a cook for wealthy families in Massachusetts and New York. In the early 1900s she was determined to be an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever, and was believed to have spread the disease to dozens of people for whom she worked. Dubbed "Typhoid Mary," "the most dangerous woman in America," Mallon was quarantined by health officials; that's her in the 1st hospital bed at left. In a letter pleading for release, she wrote:

I have been in fact a peep show for everybody. Even the interns had to come to see me and ask about the facts already known to the whole wide world. The tuberculosis men would say 'There she is, the kidnapped woman.' Dr. Park has had me illustrated in Chicago. I wonder how the said Dr. William H. Park would like to be insulted and put in the Journal and call him or his wife Typhoid William Park.

Questions persist about the fairness of her treatment and the degree to which class or ethnic prejudice motivated officials in her case.