Friday, November 15, 2002

IRAQ CRISIS...
Chief UN weapons inspector considers Iraq challenges
Watch recorded video of UNMOVIC Chairman Hans Blix speaking at a press conference in New York Friday before his departure for Baghdad. A UN Radio interview with Dr. Blix is also available.
MORE ON JURIST: WEAPONS INSPECTIONS NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 4:31 PM | #

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW...
CITES conference concludes in Chile
The 12th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) concluded Friday in Santiago, Chile. The head of the U.S. delegation said in a press release that he was pleased at newly negotiated agreements to protect certain plant and animal species from overharvesting and possible extinction. The European Union also welcomed the outcome of the conference. Read daily reports on the proceedings filed by faculty and students of the environmental law program of Lewis & Clark College Northwestern School of Law who attended the conference.
MORE ON JURIST: ENVIRONMENT NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 4:24 PM | #

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT...
US restates case against international court
US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security John R. Bolton addressed the 20th anniversary meeting of the Federalist Society Thursday. Read his speech on America's reasons for opposing the new International Criminal Court.
MORE ON JURIST: INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 3:52 PM | #

WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL - RWANDA...
Genocide trial concludes quickly
The genocide trial of Rwanda’s former Minister of Information closed Friday after only a month of hearings. More from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
MORE ON JURIST: WAR CRIMES NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 3:23 PM | #

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH...
Report: anti-Muslim hate crimes in US skyrocketed in 2001
Human Rights Watch released a new report Thursday indicating that despite vigorous efforts by public officials to contain a wave of hate crimes after September 11, anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States rose 1700 percent during 2001. The report documents anti-Arab and anti-Muslim violence and the local, state and federal response to it. Read the report.
MORE ON JURIST: HATE CRIMES NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 8:47 AM | #

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION...
Terrorism warning: "possible attacks in the United States"
The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center has issued a warning of possible terrorist attacks in the United States in the wake of the release of the latest Osama bin Laden audiotape, intelligence reporting and a resurgence of Al-Qa'ida operational activity. The warning says that "Al-Qa'ida may favor spectacular attacks that meet several criteria: high symbolic value, mass casualties, severe damage to the US economy, and maximum psychological trauma. The highest priority targets remain within the aviation, petroleum, and nuclear sectors as well as significant national landmarks." It nonetheless notes that "target vulnerability and likelihood of success may be as important to a weakened Al-Qa'ida as the target's prominence. Sources also suggest that small-scale terrorist operations against softer targets would be easier for sleeper cells already in the US to carry out and would minimize the need to communicate with central leadership, lowering the risks of detection. Thus, Al-Qa'ida's next attack may rely on conventional explosives and low-technology platforms such as truck bombs, commercial or private aircraft, small watercraft, or explosives easily concealed and planted by terrorist operatives." Read the full text of the warning.
MORE ON JURIST: TERRORISM NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 7:19 AM | #

OPINION...
Clergy sexual abuse rules, "three strikes" law
Friday's New York Times says that the US Catholic bishops' new rules against clergy sexual abuse are ambiguous and full of pitfalls, and will not work unless senior church leaders want them to. The Washington Post says that the California "three strikes" law recently debated before the US Supreme Court is too harsh, but the Court needs to offer states some meaningful guidelines to distinguish acceptable prison sentences from unacceptable ones.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 7:10 AM | #

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION...
President should disavow anti-terror surveillance scheme
The ACLU called on President Bush Thursday to disavow a new Pentagon anti-terror surveillance and data-mining project designated Total Information Awareness that it said would have the capacity to "track every American’s activities."
MORE ON JURIST: NATIONAL SECURITY NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 7:05 AM | #

THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY...
Continental Congress adopted Articles of Confederation
On this day in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first Constitution of the United States.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 6:30 AM | #

Thursday, November 14, 2002

US SUPREME COURT...
Court denies stay in Kasi case, allowing execution
The US Supreme Court Thursday refused to grant a stay or certiorari in the case of Mir Aimal Kasi, a Pakistani national scheduled for execution in Virginia at 9 PM Thursday evening. Read the Supreme Court Order[PDF]. Virginia Governor Mark Warner also refused to intervene in the case - read Governor Warner's statement. More background and documents on JURIST.
MORE ON JURIST: DEATH PENALTY
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 6:30 PM | #

US SENATE...
Senate Judiciary Committee considers Hart-Rudman terrorism report
The Senate Judicary Committee Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information held a hearing Thursday entitled "America Still Unprepared-America Still in Danger": The October 2002 Hart-Rudman Terrorism Task Force Report". Review the Hart-Rudman study America Still Unprepared-America Still in Danger, sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. Recorded video of the hearing is now available via C-SPAN.
MORE ON JURIST: TERRORISM NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 6:15 PM | #

BREAKING NEWS...
Judiciary Committee approves McConnell, Shedd nominations
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the judicial nominations of Michael McConnell and Dennis Shedd by voice votes at an Executive Business Meeting Thursday. Watch recorded video of the Judiciary Committee meeting via C-SPAN. Read the statement of Committe Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy on the nomination of Dennis Shedd. Senator Leahy's office has also released a fact sheet on judicial nominations.
MORE ON JURIST: JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 12:12 PM | #

US CATHOLIC BISHOPS...
Sex abuse policy sessions
Recorded video of the debate and press conference on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' revised policy on clergy sexual abuse of minors approved Wednesday is now available.
MORE ON JURIST: CLERGY SEX ABUSE NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 12:05 PM | #

US SUPREME COURT...
Court to honor Byron White
The Supreme Court of the United States will honor the memory of the late Retired Associate Justice Byron R. White on November 18 with a meeting of the Supreme Court's Bar, followed by a special sitting of the Court.
MORE ON JURIST: US SUPREME COURT NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 11:16 AM | #

WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL - YUGOSLAVIA...
Milosevic's health
A spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia discussed the health of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at a press conference at The Hague on Wednesday. The Court has adjourned the Milosevic trial for the rest of the week for medical reasons, and has ordered Milosevic to undergo a psychiatric evaluation (the Order is not yet online).
MORE ON JURIST: MILOSEVIC TRIAL NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 8:14 AM | #

OPINION...
Homeland Security Bill
Legal issues are unusually absent from the editorial pages of most of the major papers today. Thursday's Christian Science Monitor praises compromise language included in the newest version of the Homeland Security Bill which affords workers some substantial labor rights, although it falls short of giving them full civil service protection.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 7:45 AM | #

THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY...
Guiteau tried for assassinating President Garfield
On this day in 1881, Charles Guiteau went on trial for the assassination of President James A. Garfield. The trial of Guiteau, a probable paranoid, pointed up problems with nineteenth century law's treatment of insanity; Guiteau's trial is also problematic in retrospect as Garfield's death was immediately attributable not to Guiteau, but to Garfield's doctors who - before sterilization was well understood - repeated probed his wound with unwashed hands while searching for an embedded bullet.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 6:30 AM | #

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES...
Homeland Security Bill passed
The House passed a revised compromose version of the Department of Homeland Security Bill[PDF] late Wednesday. House Speaker Dennis Hastert issued a statement on the Bill's passage. Read a summary of what's new in the Bill, provided by the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.
MORE ON JURIST: HOMELAND SECURITY NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 9:17 PM | #

IRAQ CRISIS...
Full text of Iraqi acceptance letter is scathing denunciation of US, UK
The full text of the Iraqi Foreign Minister's letter[PDF] accepting the unconditional return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq is a scathing denunciation of American "slander" and "aggression" and dismissively refers to the "huge clamor fabricated by the President of the United States and supported by his lackey Tony Blair." American administrations, it goes on, "have been transformed by their own greed, by Zionism as well as by other known factors, into the tyrant of the age." The letter continues in this tone, and agrees to UN Resolution 1441 "despite its bad contents." The Iraqi Foreign Minister concludes by promising to "forward another letter to you [UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan] on a later date, in which I shall state our observations, the measures and procedures, contained in SCR 1441 that are contrary to international law."
MORE ON JURIST: IRAQ CRISIS NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 8:37 PM | #

DEATH ROW...
Kasi execution still scheduled for Thursday
The governor of Virginia is reviewing a joint clemency request from family members and the Pakistan Embassy for Mir Aimal Kasi, a Pakistani national scheduled to be executed Thursday for the 1993 murders of two CIA employees near Washington, DC. The U.S. Supreme Court has also been asked to act on Kasi's appeal and request for a stay of execution. The State Department has issued a Worldwide Caution to US citizens indicating that the execution of Kasi could result in retaliation against Americans around the world. Read the statement of CIA Director George Tenet issued after Kasi's 1997 conviction. The 1998 Virginia court ruling affirming Kasi's conviction is also online. Amnesty International has condemned Kasi's execution, saying his abduction from Pakistan by FBI agents in the absence of an extradition agreement between the US and Pakistan requires his release under international law. About 150 Pakistan lawyers protested Kasi's execution Wednesday in his ancestral home city of Quetta. Local Virginia media report that security has been tightened around the Greensville Correctional Center, where the execution will occur Thursday night.
MORE ON JURIST: DEATH PENALTY NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 7:35 PM | #

US TREASURY DEPARTMENT...
Terrorist financing rewards program launched
The US Treasury and State Departments announced Wednesday the establishment of a $5 million reward program for information leading to the disruption of terrorist financing networks. The initiative is an extension of the State Department's existing Rewards for Justice program. Watch the announcement webcast .
MORE ON JURIST: TERRORIST FINANCING NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 3:36 PM | #

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION...
ACLU asks court to order US DOJ to account for new powers
The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal court Wednesday to order the US Department of Justice to respond immediately to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking information on the government's use of new surveillance powers granted to it by Congress last year. Read the ACLU Memorandum in Support of a Preliminary Injunction.
MORE ON JURIST: US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 3:19 PM | #

BREAKING NEWS...
Catholic bishops approve new sex abuse policy
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has approved a new policy on clergy sex abuse. Watch live coverage of the Washington DC meeting. A video on the history of the Catholic Bishops' efforts to address issues of sexual abuse is also online, as well as additional documentation. For survivors' stories and information, see the website of the Boston Catholic organization Survivors First.
MORE ON JURIST: CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 12:26 PM | #

BREAKING NEWS...
Iraqi Ambassador to UN says Baghdad accepts Security Council resolution
[UPDATED]The Iraqi Ambassador to the United Nations reported Wednesday that Baghdad has sent a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan indicating its acceptance of the return of weapons inspectors to the country under the terms of a new Security Council resolution. More from the United Nations and VOA . The full text of the Iraqi letter from the Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs is now online. The White House reaction was mixed - listen to a report from VOA . British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw offered the UK's official reaction to the announcement. Confirming receipt of the letter from Baghdad, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said UN arms experts are set to commence operations in Iraq on Monday.
MORE ON JURIST: IRAQ CRISIS NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 11:58 AM | #

IRAQ CRISIS...
Iraq statement on parliamentary rejection of UN resolutions
Iraq Daily, a publication of the Iraqi Ministry of Information, has posted an Iraq News Agency story on the Iraqi Parliament's rejection Tuesday of UN Resolution 1441, highlighting comments by National Assembly Speaker Dr. Sa’doun Hammadi.
MORE ON JURIST: IRAQ CRISIS NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 10:11 AM | #

OPINION WATCH...
SEC, John Malvo, Catholic bishops
Wednesday's Washington Post suggests that former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani would make a fine Chairman of the tarnished Securities and Exchange Commission. The Post also says that the aggressive interrogation of juvenile DC sniper suspect John Malvo by federal and Virginia authorities is wrong. The Boston Globe says that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops will not be able to move on from the clergy sex abuse scandal until the Church acts against bishops who allowed sexual abuse to go unreported and unpunished.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 7:48 AM | #

SUPREME COURT WATCH...
Today's docket
The US Supreme Court hears oral arguments Wednesday in two so-called "Megan's Law" cases:

• Smith v. Doe [sex offenders, Internet registries, ex post facto clause]. Read the case summary from Northwestern; docket entry from SCOTUS; briefs from FindLaw.
  
• CT Dept. of Public Safety v. Doe [Fourteenth Amendment, due process, sex offender registry]. Read the case summary from Northwestern; docket entry from SCOTUS; briefs from FindLaw.

See also case analyses by DC appellate attorney and Supreme Court observer Sam Heldman, who predicts that the Supreme Court will reverse in both.
MORE ON JURIST: US SUPREME COURT NEWS

THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY...
Supreme Court ended bus segregation
On this day in 1956, the US Supreme Court affirmed a US District Court ruling in Browder v. Gayle that had declared unconstitutional Alabama's state and local laws requiring segregation on buses, thereby ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 6:30 AM | #

Tuesday, November 12, 2002

MICROSOFT ANTITRUST CASE...
Final judgment
US District Court Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly issued her Final Judgment and Order Tuesday in the case of US v. Microsoft pursuant to her November 1 conditional approval of the settlement agreed to by the parties in the case.
MORE ON JURIST: MICROSOFT ANTITRUST NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 9:17 PM | #

SUPREME COURT WATCH...
Certiorari granted
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari Tuesday in two cases:

• 01-196, National Park Hospitality Ass'n v. Department of the Interior [procurement contracts, National Park Service]. Read the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruling[PDF] appealed from.
• 02-322, Department of the Treasury v. Chicago [firearms sales, Freedom of Information Act]. Read the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruling[PDF] appealed from.

Also on Tuesday, the Court noted probable jurisdiction in a third case, 02-361, United States v. American Library Association. Read the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruling appealed from. More information on the case is available from the American Library Association. The full official Order List[PDF] is now available.
MORE ON JURIST: US SUPREME COURT

IRAQ CRISIS...
US reaction to Iraqi Parliament's rejection of UN Resolution
Responding to the Iraqi Parliament's rejection of UN Resolution 1441, President Bush said Tuesday the US had zero tolerance for Iraqi "deception and delay." Secretary of State Powell said that the Iraqi assembly's decision was not to be taken seriously, and State Department spokesman Richard Boucher dismissed it as pure theater. Read the full transcripts of their remarks.
MORE ON JURIST: IRAQ CRISIS NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 8:35 PM | #

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION...
SEC accepts Webster's resignation from accounting panel
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt has accepted the resignation of Judge William Webster as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Read Pitt's statement. The text of Webster's resignation letter is also online.
MORE ON JURIST: SEC NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 4:23 PM | #

WAR CRIMES COURT - YUGOSLAVIA...
Milosevic trial delayed again
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia issued a press advisory Tuesday indicating that the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic would not proceed as scheduled Wednesday "due to medical reasons." This is the second time this month that proceedings have been suspended due to the defendant's health. The advisory said that the media would be advised when proceedings would resume.
MORE ON JURIST: MILOSEVIC TRIAL NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 11:22 AM | #

US SENATE...
Hearing on FERC oversight of Enron
[UPDATED]The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing Tuesday entitled Asleep at the Switch: FERC’s Oversight of Enron Corporation. FERC is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
MORE ON JURIST: ENRON NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 10:17 AM | #

BREAKING NEWS...
Iraqi Parliament rejects UN Resolution
The Iraqi Parliament Tuesday voted to reject UN Resolution 1441 requiring that Iraq allow comprehensive weapons inspections to verify its disarmament obligations or face "serious consequences." Visit the website of the National Assembly of the Republic of Iraq. The final decision on Iraqi compliance now rests with President Saddam Hussein. More from VOA .
MORE ON JURIST: IRAQ CRISIS NEWS
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 9:18 AM | #

OPINION WATCH...
Juveniles, guns, and the Biotreaty
Tuesday's New York Times says that even - or perhaps especially - in the case of John Malvo, time-honored legal protections for juveniles should not be abandoned. The Washington Post says that for existing gun laws to work, the government needs the means to enforce them. USA Today blames gun law enforcement problems at the feet of a duplicitous NRA. The LA Times says that U.S. opposition to strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention defies logic in a time of increasing threats.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 9:04 AM | #

SUPREME COURT WATCH...
Today's docket
The US Supreme Court hears oral arguments Tuesday in these cases:

• U.S. v. Recio [conspiracy]. Read the case summary from Northwestern; docket entry from SCOTUS; briefs from FindLaw.
  
• Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue [trademark, economic value dilution, Federal Trademark Dilution Act]. Read the case summary from Northwestern; docket entry from SCOTUS; briefs from FindLaw.

See also case analyses by DC appellate attorney and Supreme Court observer Sam Heldman, who predicts that the Supreme Court will reverse Recio and reverse Moseley.
MORE ON JURIST: US SUPREME COURT NEWS

THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY...
Japanese war criminals sentenced
On this day in 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death for war crimes. Read more about the Tokyo War Crimes Trials before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 6:30 AM | #

Monday, November 11, 2002

US DC CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS...
Great-grandson of Booth doc can't seek review of conviction
The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals held Friday in Mudd v. White that the great-grandson of Dr. Samuel Mudd, convicted by a military tribunal for his alleged role in assisting John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, had no standing under statute to seek judicial review of the Assistant Secretary of the Army's refusal to reverse that conviction more than a century later.
MORE ON JURIST: CASES AND STATUTES
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 11:03 AM | #

OPINION WATCH...
Ballistics database, criminal justice, visas, spam, Enron, judges
Monday's New York Times says that especially in the wake of the DC sniper shootings, setting up a computerized national database of bullet and cartridge-case markings for all guns sold in the United States is a good idea, but the government must first get an authoritative judgment on how feasible the project really is. The Boston Globe says that the arrest and prosecution of the DC snipers illuminate some important issues in the nation's criminal justice system. The Washington Post says that the US visa process needs to be improved for the sake of America's economy and foreign policy image, as well as its security. USA Today calls for a national "ADV law" that would require all e-mail marketers to identify marketing e-mails with the prefix "ADV" (advertising). The Los Angeles Times calls on the judge presiding over Enron's civil trial to reject an Enron motion to keep its documents secure from public inspection. In the Washington Times, Thomas Jipping calls for the Republicans to take advantage of their new majority and get President Bush's judicial nominees through the Senate.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 7:52 AM | #

THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY...
Pilgrims signed Mayflower Compact
On this day in 1620, 41 Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact, creating a civil government for Plymouth Colony.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 6:25 AM | #

Sunday, November 10, 2002

THIS DAY IN LEGAL HISTORY...
Supreme Court restricts free speech in wartime
On this day in 1919, the US Supreme Court ruled in Abrams v. United States that the federal government could criminalize speech if it was of a type tending to bring about harmful results, in this case resistence to the United States war effort. In a powerful dissenting opinion, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes countered that even during wartime, free speech could only be curtailed when there was clear and "present danger of immediate evil or an intent to bring it about." Read more on the clear and present danger test by Professor Douglas Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
Posted by Bernard Hibbitts at 12:58 PM | #