The Department of Homeland Security officially came into existence Saturday, absorbing some twenty federal agencies that had formerly been run in other Government departments. Read the DHS press release. With the re-organization come websites for the new Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

Also Saturday, more than 170 nations at the World Health Organization agreed to a draft tobacco treaty that would restrict tobacco advertising and labeling and take strong action on smuggling and second-hand smoke. The US has expressed reservations about the agreement and may not sign it. Read the WHO press release and learn more about the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, which will be presented for formal adoption at the May meeting of the World Health Assembly.

UNMOVIC Chairman Dr. Hans Blix has filed a new written report with the UN Security Council on weapons inspections and Iraq's compliance with Security Council Resolution 1441. Read the full text of Dr. Blix's report as posted on the US State Department website.

New on law professors' weblogs Saturday: Lawrence Solum of Loyola Law School Los Angeles reports from the Spectrum Policy Conference at Stanford Law School. Jack Balkin of Yale Law School shares his thoughts on pledging allegiance and cloning and fair weather federalism. David Wagner of Regent University School of Law also reflects on yesterday's Ninth Circuit Pledge of Allegiance ruling.

On March 1, 1875, the Civil Rights Act of 1875 became law. It declared:

all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement; subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law, and applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude.

In 1883, in the Civil Rights Cases, the US Supreme Court ruled the 1875 Act unconstitutional and unauthorized by either the 13th or 14th Amendments. Congress passed no more civil rights legislation until 1957.