Today in History: Tuesday, November 13, 2012

On Nov. 13, 2001, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban abandoned the capital Kabul without a fight, allowing U.S.-backed northern alliance fighters to take over the city.

1856 Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis was born in Louisville, Ky.

1927 The Holland Tunnel linking New York City and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River opened to the public.

1956 The Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public buses.

1974 Karen Silkwood, a technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., was killed in a car crash.

1982 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.

1997 The Disney musical "The Lion King" opened on Broadway.

1998 President Bill Clinton agreed to pay Paula Jones $850,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit.

2002 Saddam Hussein's government agreed to the return of international weapons inspectors to Iraq.

2003 Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was thrown off the bench by a judicial ethics panel after refusing to remove a granite Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse.

2009 Attorney General Eric Holder announced plans to try professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others in civilian court in New York City. (The Obama administration later backed off the plan.)