(We still had Nixon to kick around)
January 8, 1974 - a busy news day. But then 1974 was a rather busy news year anyway. Watergate was bubbling away, the Saudis were threatening to blow up oil rigs, gas rationing was already underway in Sweden. New York was issuing get-tough policies on gas station price gouging. The Wounded Knee trial was in the jury selection phase, and the Supreme Court ruled on illegally obtained evidence:
John Chancellor (NBC News): “The Supreme Court ruled six to three today that prosecutors may use illegally gathered evidence in Grand Jury presentations. The court said criminal suspects may not prevent the use of unlawfully gathered evidence, nor can suspects refuse to answer questions based on illegal evidence. This is the second such ruling by the Court this session. The first permits police to use any evidence turned up in a search connected with any lawful arrest, including a traffic violation. The dissenting Supreme Court Justices in both cases said the decisions threaten the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution which forbids unlawful search and seizure.”
And Comet Kohoutek which, only a year earlier had triggered dire predictions of earth shattering changes turned out to be 1974's answer to Y2K - a colossal dud.
Just another January day on planet earth.
