9,901 articles
Sam Giancana
Sam Giancana (Salvatore "Momo" Giancana, 1908–1975), Chicago Outfit boss 1957–1966, known for ties to the Kennedys, Sinatra, and CIA Castro assassination plots; murdered unsolved in Oak Park in 1975.
Sam Sheppard
Sam Sheppard (1923-1970), Ohio osteopathic physician convicted in 1954 of murdering his wife Marilyn; conviction voided in Sheppard v. Maxwell (1966), acquitted at retrial, later subject of wrongful-imprisonment suits and The Fugitive inspiration.
Samantha Cookes
Samantha Cookes, known in Ireland as Carrie Jade Williams, is a British serial fraudster jailed in March 2025 for falsely claiming Huntington's disease to take welfare payments.
Samantha D. Elliott
Samantha Dowd Elliott, born 1975, is an American jurist serving as a US district judge for the District of New Hampshire since 2021 and its chief judge since 2025.
Same-sex and LGBTQ+ adoption in Canada
Same-sex and LGBTQ+ adoption in Canada is the legal ability of LGBTQ+ individuals and couples to adopt children, permitted in every jurisdiction since roughly 2011, though agency-level barriers persist.
Same-sex marriage in British Columbia
Same-sex marriage in British Columbia: legalized July 8, 2003 by the BC Court of Appeal in Barbeau v. British Columbia after a 2001 BCSC dismissal; second Canadian province after Ontario, later confirmed by the 2005 Civil Marriage Act.
Same-sex marriage in Germany
Same-sex marriage in Germany (Ehe für alle), legal since 1 October 2017, replaced registered life partnerships (2001); passed 393-226 by the Bundestag on 30 June 2017; descent-law reform and adoption remain open issues.
Same-sex marriage in Scotland
Same-sex marriage in Scotland, legalized by the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 with first weddings on 31 December 2014, features an opt-in system for religious and belief bodies, Equality Act protections for objecting celebrants, and over 10,000 same-sex marriages since.
Same-sex marriage in South Africa
Same-sex marriage in South Africa: legalized via the Civil Union Act 17 of 2006 after the Constitutional Court's Fourie judgment (1 December 2005); first in Africa, with section 6 conscientious-objection opt-outs repealed in 2020.
Same-sex marriage in Thailand
Same-sex marriage in Thailand: legalized by the Marriage Equality Act (Civil and Commercial Code Amendment No. 24 B.E. 2567), effective 23 January 2025; first in Southeast Asia, third in Asia after Taiwan and Nepal.
Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom
Same-sex marriage in the UK, also called equal marriage, is legal UK-wide: England and Wales 2014 (Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013), Scotland 2014, Northern Ireland 13 January 2020, following the Civil Partnership Act 2004.
Sammy Gravano
Sammy Gravano, born Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano in 1945, is a former underboss of New York's Gambino crime family who became a government witness against John Gotti.
Samuel Alito
Samuel A. Alito, Jr. (born 1950, Trenton, NJ) is a U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice since 2006, nominated by George W. Bush; author of Dobbs (2022) overturning Roe v. Wade; a self-described practical originalist and consistent conservative voice.
Samuel Bateman
Samuel Rappylee Bateman (born c. 1976) is an American polygamist sect leader from Colorado City, Arizona, who proclaimed himself an FLDS prophet in 2019, led the "Samuelites," and was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison in 2024 plus 24 years in 2026 for child sexual abuse and kidnapping conspiracies.
Samuel Bowers
Samuel Holloway Bowers Jr., Imperial Wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi from 1964, directed Klan murders and bombings including the 1964 Freedom Summer killings; convicted 1967 and 1998, died in prison 2006.
Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase (1741–1811), Maryland lawyer, Declaration of Independence signer, and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1796–1811); the only justice ever impeached, acquitted by the Senate in 1805.
Samuel F. Biery, Jr.
Samuel F. Biery, Jr., also known as Samuel Frederick Biery, Jr., is a United States district judge in Texas, appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994.
Samuel Griffith
Sir Samuel Walker Griffith (1845–1920), Welsh-born Australian jurist and politician: twice Premier of Queensland, Chief Justice of Queensland 1893–1903, principal drafter of the 1891 Australian Constitution draft, and first Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia 1903–1919.
Samuel H. Mays, Jr.
Samuel H. Mays, Jr. (born 1948) is an American jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the Western District of Tennessee since 2015.
Samuel Lee Smithers
Samuel Lee Smithers (born 1953), the "Deacon of Death," a Florida Baptist deacon convicted in 1998 of the 1996 murders of sex workers Denise Roach and Christy Cowan in Plant City; executed October 14, 2025, Florida's record 14th execution that year.
Samuel Little
Samuel Little (Samuel McDowell, 1940-2020), American serial killer; FBI-confirmed most prolific in U.S. history, confessed to 93 murders 1970-2005, at least 60 confirmed, convicted 2014 in Los Angeles.
Samuel Parsons Scott
Samuel Parsons Scott (1846–1929) was an American attorney and banker of Hillsboro, Ohio, known for translating medieval and Roman law single-handedly and writing a history of the Moorish Empire.
Samuel R. Cummings
Samuel R. Cummings, born 1944, is an American jurist serving as a senior United States district judge for the Northern District of Texas, appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1987.
San Diego serial murders
San Diego serial murders: the Torrey Pines State Beach killings of Barbara Nantais (1978) and Claire Hough (1984), the Kevin Brown DNA controversy, and related San Diego County serial-homicide cases and methods.
Sanctioning Russia Act
Sanctioning Russia Act: US sanctions legislation, first the 2025 Graham-Blumenthal bill (S.1241) and then the enacted Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 (Public Law 119-111), imposing sanctions on Russian officials, banks, and energy buyers, 500 percent tariffs on Russian goods, and 100 percent tariffs on top purchasers of Russian oil and gas, largely waived by executive order in October 2026.
Sanctions against Rhodesia
Sanctions against Rhodesia were UN economic sanctions imposed on Southern Rhodesia after Ian Smith's white minority government unilaterally declared independence from Britain in 1965, remaining in force until 1979.
Sandra Ávila Beltrán
Sandra Ávila Beltrán, known as La Reina del Pacífico, was a Mexican woman who served as an intermediary between Colombian cocaine suppliers and Mexican drug cartels, arrested in 2007.
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor (1930-2023) was the first woman to serve as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1981-2006; confirmed 99-0, she was the decisive swing vote in cases on abortion, affirmative action, and Bush v. Gore.
Sandra Good
Sandra Good (Blue, Sandra Collins), born 1944, a Manson Family member and close friend of Squeaky Fromme, imprisoned 1976-1985 for mailing death threats to corporate executives, later ran the Access Manson website.
Sandra L. Lynch
Sandra L. Lynch, born Sandra Lea Lynch, is an American jurist who joined the First Circuit in 1995 as its first woman judge, appointed by Bill Clinton.