Portal:Current events/2004 February 4

February 4, 2004 (2004-02-04) (Wednesday)

• A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco upholds an August 2003 decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Jelderks in Portland that the remains of the Kennewick Man can be studied. In a decision was written by Judge Ronald M. Gould, the court denies the request of the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Colville, and Yakama Indian tribes, which wanted the bones to be turned over to them for burial, holding that the remains do not fall under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and can be studied under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.
• The European Space Agency announces plans to send humans and robot probes to the Moon and Mars over the next three decades.
• Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state supreme court of Massachusetts, issues a response to a Massachusetts Senate question about instituting civil unions, such as the civil unions on Vermont, would meet the requirements of the 4–3 decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health issued in November 2003. The Court responds that such civil unions would not be sufficient to comply with Goodridge, in which the Court held that not allowing same-sex couples to marry violated the Massachusetts Constitution. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan states that the Bush administration is reviewing the decision, that the Court's ruling is "deeply troubling", and that President Bush is "firmly committed to protecting and defending" marriage.
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission held an open meeting in what may be the longest-running SEC fraud case. At issue are the trades that resulted in the firing of Orlando (Joseph) Jett from Kidder, Peabody & Co. in 1994. An administrative law judge held that Jett was responsible for record keeping violations, but rejected the claim of SEC lawyers that he was guilty of securities fraud. Both the staff and Jett appealed to the full commission.
• Social networking website Facebook is launched.

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