• Convictions Upheld in '93 WTC Bombing | AP
• Negotiators approve flag compromise | Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Turkish court upholds torture verdict | BBC
• Judge backs gay equal rights | BBC
• PA refuses to list websites it banned | AP

This brings the curtain down on a project that ran for nearly nine years and initially included opinions for 6 courts. Emory was among a handful of law schools that began posting Circuit court cases in the summer and fall of 1994. By late 1994 all of the Circuit Courts of Appeal were supplying reported cases to law schools who hosted websites for the courts. Now, nearly nine years later, all of the circuits have their opinions available on the web at their own sites, though a number of schools including Touro Law Center and Pace Law School (2nd), Villanova School of Law (3rd), and Washburn School of Law Library (10th) continue to post new cases and maintain archives.

This article examines an apparent paradox in comparative constitutional law. Property rights are not treated as a fundamental right in American constitutional law; they are, however, under the Basic Law (i.e., constitution) of Germany, a social-welfare state that otherwise gives less weight to property. The article uses this apparent paradox as a vehicle for considering the different reasons why constitutions protect property. It explains the difference between the German and American constitutional treatment of property on the basis of the quite different approaches taken in the two systems to the purposes of constitutional protection of property.

• Supreme Court Splits, Allows Execution of Man Who Was 17 When He Killed Two | AP
• Iraqi lawyer's tip led to rescue of POW | USA Today
• A New Push to Grant Gun Industry Immunity From Suits | New York Times
• Croatian Court: Ex-Army Chief Too Ill to Receive U.N. Indictment | AP
• Judges Struggle on Campaign Finance | Washington Post
• Terrorism Task Force Detains an American Without Charges | New York Times
• Civil Liberties Group Urges Florida to Recall AIDS Pamphlets With Biblical Passages | AP
• New York's Death Penalty Sentencing Upheld | Law.com
• State State Enters Fray on Access to Priests' Files | Washington Post
• Bill in Oregon Bill in Oregon seeks to jail war protesters as terrorists | Reuters
• Parents, Not Child, May Seek Damages Over In-Vitro Fertilization | Law.com
• News Groups Want Terror Case Documents | New York Times
• King's Anti-War Views Remembered on Death Anniversary | AP
• Trials begin for Cuban dissidents | AP
• Role of the Media in Afghan State-Building: The Case of the Afghan Constitution | RFE/RL

• Hawkish lawyer to oversee Iraqi ministries | Guardian
• Law-and-order challenge for US as it takes Iraqi city | Christian Science Monitor
• N.C. Senate votes to drop sterilization law | AP
• Appeals Court Orders OSHA to Set New Exposure Limits for Industrial Chemical | AP
• Key Witness in Terror Trial Pleads Guilty on 10 Counts | AP
• Former Texas Attorney General Pleads Innocent to Mail Fraud and Conspiracy Charges | AP
• Rethinking 'safe havens' for legal desertion of babies | Christian Science Monitor
• North Dakota state Senate rejects repeal of law making cohabitation a crime | AP
• Swaziland's Chief Justice Resigns Amid Row with Monarch | VOA
• European judicial network goes on line | Creditman
• Afghanistan's future being written, debated in new constitution | AP
• Ariz. Court to Review Death Penalty Cases | AP
• UN spells out limits of US post-conflict rights | Financial Times

• Former US Hostage in First Gulf War Gets $1.75 Million in Compensation From Frozen Iraqi Funds | AP
• Elena Kagan named next Dean of Harvard Law School | Harvard Gazette
• NAACP President Testifies Against Gun Industry | AP
• DNA frees man from rape convictions | UPI
• Lawyers for Microsoft, Sun Argue Appeal of Java Injunction | AP

The United States has been releasing annually Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, censuring other countries for their human rights situations, but it has turned a blind eye to serious violations of human rights on its own soil. This double standard on human rights issues cannot but meet with strong rejection and opposition worldwide, leaving the United States more and more isolated in the international community.

Iraq is not among the 132 countries that are party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty that outlaws any use, production, stockpiling or trade in antipersonnel mines. However, Human Rights Watch believes that any use of antipersonnel mines by any armed force is prohibited by customary international humanitarian law since they are inherently indiscriminate weapons. International humanitarian law also prohibits using places of worship in support of the military effort.

• U.S. appeals court halts Oklahoma execution | CNN
• Justices Appear Split Over Intel E-Mail Case | Los Angeles Times
• Views Differ on System for Tracking Foreign Students | Washington Post
• Judiciary Committee Votes For Porn Filters At Libraries | AP
• Ruling on Endangered Species Upheld | Washington Post
• House Judiciary Committee Questions Use of PATRIOT Act | CNS
• Federal judge rules for stadium seating for wheelchairs | Newsday
• China slams US rights record | SA
• Senate OKs Outside Scrutiny of Air Force Academy Scandal | Los Angeles Times
• House panel nears OK on gun lawsuit bill | AP
• Afghan Chief Justice Under Scrutiny | PNS
• EU Official Says Balkans Court Systems Need Help | VOA
• Milosevic seeks a vacation | B92
• Call for Chechen war crimes trial | BBC

• Columbia defends affirmative action | UPI
• AMA: Supreme Court Decision Reduces Confusion Surrounding Laws Regulating Health Insurers | PRNewswire
• Supreme Court Takes on Hollywood Copying Case | AP
• House approves increase in ceiling on federal deposit insurance | AP
• Spanish PM faces legal action for supporting Iraq war | AFP
• Iraq violated international law with mines in mosque: rights group | AP
• Proposals on EU constitution raise concern | Financial Times
• Ashcroft Outlines Successes in War on Terror | VOA
• Drug courts: viable alternative to jail | UPI
• Peruvian Lawmakers Approve More Charges Against Ex-President Fujimori | AP
• Iraqi POWs will get day in court, but which court? | Reuters
• Senate Republicans lose fourth attempt to break filibuster on judicial nominee | AP
• Bush administration wants military exemptions to environmental laws | AP
• PM says soldiers covered by Geneva Conventions | CTV
• China to Publish Article on US Human Rights Record in 2002 | People's Daily
• AIDS Legislation Making Progress in US Congress | VOA
• Illegal to hand PoWs to US, claim ministers | AP
• U.S. Urges Serbia to Arrest War Crimes Suspects | Reuter

• Lawmakers Split on Smallpox Compensation | Newsday
• Panel Bans Trade in Conflict Diamonds | AP
• Tyco sues former chief financial officer | AP
• N. Korea rights abuses under U.N. scrutiny | UPI
• Supreme Court Says States Can Force HMOs to Open Doctor Networks | AP
• Diocese in San Bernardino, Calif., Asks Boston to Pay Lawsuit Damages | AP
• Court to Hear Microsoft Bid to Reverse Java Ruling | Reuters
• Command post found at hospital during PoW rescue | CBC
• Two Kuwaitis Say They Confessed Under Duress to Providing Weapons to Man Who Allegedly Shot Americans | AP
• Feds toughen light truck fuel standards | UPI
• Energy Legislation Would Ease Rules on Weapons-Grade Uranium Exports | AP

Elements of the I Marine Expeditionary Force located two Al Samoud II missiles during ground operations Monday on a farm near Al Hillah in central Iraq. The Al Samoud II missile violates U.N. resolution 687 with a flight range exceeding 150 km.

• On Affirmative Action, High Court Seeks Nuance | New York Times
• O'Connor Questions Foes of U-Michigan Policy | Washington Post
• Los Angeles' Roman Catholic Archdiocese Argues Against Release of Priest Files | AP
• White House Request To Restrict Clinton Pardon Data Upheld | Washington Post
• Viability of WWII-era rules of war questioned | Boston Globe
• Soldier Says He's Conscientious Objector | AP
• Andersen Appeals Obstruction of Justice Verdict | AccountingWEB
• US court rules treaty allows Canada to serve subpoenas on Florida residents | Canadian Press
• U.S. Tries to Block Access to Witness for Terror Trial | Washington Post
• US Authorizes Detention of Iraqi Civilians | Washington Post
• Serbia Cracks Down on Criminal Gangs | VOA
• Calls for Iraq TV bombing inquiry | Guardian
• Belgium softens war crimes law | BBC

• Colleges and universities look for alternatives should Court overturn affirmative action | AP
• US "will adhere" to Geneva Convention | Daily Telegraph
• Moussaoui Wants Access to Jailed al-Qaida | AP
• Justice budgets for terrorism | Federal Computer Week
• Lord Chancellor's role "should end" | The Times
• US Army POW rescued | United States Central Command
• Judge nominee testifies she erred in arguing for Bob Jones tax break | AP
• Marines Get New Orders - U.S. military rules detained Iraqi civilians to be held for up to 30 days | Washington Post
• Britain Convicts 2 Algerians of Helping Finance Terrorists | New York Times
• Mexico Assumes Presidency of Security Council at Tough Time | IPS
• Court: Nazi War Criminal Fit for Hearing | Newsday
• Unconditional Surrender Demanded of Iraqi Regime | American Forces Information Service
• Kucinich calls for end to war in speech on House floor | AP
• UN expert highlights need for sustained action to promote human rights in Iraq | UN News
• Air Force Academy Agrees to Independent Probe of Rape Scandal by Cooperating With Prosecutor | AP
• Judge Recommends Overturning Texas Drug Convictions That Critics Called Racially Motivated | AP
• Judge Orders Trial in Suit Against Visa and Mastercard | AP
• Assassination suspect gives war-crime deal | UPI
• European Union: Both Sides Must Obey International Law in Iraq War | AP

• Court divided on affirmative action | UPI
• Thousands Rally for Affirmative Action at High Court | Washington Post
• Iraq war could speed Arab rights reform | Reuters
• US to Stick to Checkpoint Rules After Killing of Civilians | New York Times
• ICRC says civilians must be protected in war | Reuters
• Navy vows no tolerance in sex crimes at Academy | Baltimore Sun
• MoD on the defensive over claim that soldiers refused to fight | Financial Times

The use of civilians, including a state's own citizens, as human shields to protect military objectives from attack is a violation of international humanitarian law amounting to a war crime. The forcible use of civilians or other non-combatants as human shields also violates the prohibition on the taking of hostages. Customary humanitarian law and Protocol I [to the Geneva Conventions] prohibit encouraging or making use of volunteers as human shields.

The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations.

International law prohibits attacking, killing, injuring, capturing or deceiving the enemy by resorting to what is called perfidy. A perfidious attack is one launched by combatants who have led opposing forces to believe that the attackers are really noncombatants. Acts of perfidy include pretending to be a civilian (who cannot be attacked) or feigning surrender (surrendering soldiers also cannot be attacked) so that opposing forces will let down their guard at the moment of attack. Other examples include feigning protective status by the misuse of emblems of the United Nations or the red cross and red crescent. Perfidy poses particular dangers because it blurs the distinction between enemy soldiers, who are a valid target, and civilians and other noncombatants, who are not. Soldiers fearful of perfidious attacks are more likely to fire upon civilians and surrendering soldiers, however unlawfully.

The [Iraqi] regime's human rights record remained extremely poor [in 2002], and it continued to commit numerous, serious human rights abuses. Citizens did not have the right to change the regime. The regime continued summarily to execute alleged political opponents and leaders of the Shi'a religious community. Reports suggested that persons were executed merely because of their association with an opposition group. The regime continued to be responsible for disappearances and to kill and torture persons suspected of or related to persons suspected of oppositionist politics, economic crimes, military desertion, and a variety of other activities.

Security forces routinely tortured, beat, raped, and otherwise abused detainees. Prison conditions were extremely poor and frequently life threatening. The regime reportedly conducted "prison cleansing" campaigns to kill inmates in order to relieve overcrowding in the prisons. The authorities routinely used arbitrary arrest and detention, prolonged detention, and incommunicado detention, and continued to deny citizens the basic right to due process. The regime granted a much-publicized amnesty in October to all prisoners except those accused of spying for the United States or Israel, but by all accounts prisoner release was not as universal as claimed. This public relations event served mainly to corroborate previous reporting of summary executions, disappearances, torture, and inhuman living conditions within the regime's prison system. Many prisoners remained unaccounted for after the amnesty.

Saddam Hussein and his inner circle of supporters continued to impose arbitrary rule. The regime continued to infringe on citizens' privacy rights. The regime severely restricted freedoms of speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, and movement. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the country issued a report in March detailing ongoing, grievous violations of human rights by the regime. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights and the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution in November criticizing the regime's suppression of these freedoms. In April the European Parliament published a report condemning the regime's human rights abuses. Nevertheless, human rights abuses remained difficult to document because of the regime's concealment of facts, including its prohibition on the establishment of independent human rights organizations, its persistent refusal to allow visits of human rights monitors, and its continued restrictions designed to prevent dissent. Although in February, the Special Rapporteur was allowed a single, 4-day visit to research abuses in the country for the first time since 1992, time and access were severely limited and strongly controlled by the regime. It has refused to allow a followup visit. Past U.N. reporting on the regime's human rights abuses was based almost entirely on interviews with recent emigrants, opposition groups and others that had contacts inside the country, and on published reports from outside the country. Violence and discrimination against women occurred.

The regime has enacted laws affording a variety of protections to women; however, it has been difficult to determine the practical effects of such protections. The regime neglected the health and nutritional needs of children and discriminated against religious minorities and ethnic groups. The regime restricted severely trade union rights, and there were instances of forced labor.

Our new extradition treaty will give us more flexibility and efficiency in ensuring that fugitive criminals can be brought to justice in the country whose laws they have violated and whose people and institutions they have harmed. The treaty covers criminal conduct from white collar crime and fraud, to organized crime, money laundering, and terrorism. The new treaty we are signing today should serve as a model to the world for successful and efficient cooperation in bringing international fugitives to justice.

We are also signing an asset sharing agreement this morning. It is an agreement designed to expand and enhance our joint efforts to trace and confiscate the illegal profits of criminal activity. Transnational criminal organizations threaten the safety and security of both of our nations. Whether they engage in drug trafficking or racketeering or acts of terrorism, seizing their funds and assets serves to cripple and dismantle their operations.