http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/ JURIST's weblog of legal news and resources worth thinking about, by Professor Bernard Hibbitts and law students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 en-US http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/federal-judge-dismisses-lawsuit-by.php [JURIST] A federal judge Monday dismissed a federal lawsuit [JURIST report] filed by a Muslim woman against a judge who asked her to remove her niqab [JURIST news archive] in court. Ginnnah Muhammad had alleged that Illinois small claims Judge Paul Paruk [31st District Court website] said he had to see her face to gauge her veracity and threatened to dismiss her case if she refused to remove her 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/schwarzenegger-nixes-california-mass.php [JURIST] California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] has abandoned a 2007 plan to release approximately 22,000 "lower risk" prisoners who have less than 20 months of their sentences remaining, according to a Tuesday report in the Sacramento Bee. The proposal was intended to cut a multi-billion dollar deficit and alleviate severe prison overcrowding [JURIST reports] in 2008-05-13T12:25:00-04:00 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/colombia-extradites-ex-paramilitary.php [JURIST] Colombia [JURIST news archive] Tuesday extradited 14 former militia leaders suspected of organizing violent massacres and drug smuggling operations to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. The guerrilla leaders had surrendered to Colombian authorities under a peace deal in which Colombian President Alvaro Uribe [official profile, in Spanish; BBC profile] suspended warrants 2008-05-13T11:21:00-04:00 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/us-military-drops-charges-against-so.php [JURIST] The US Department of Defense [official website] has dropped criminal charges against Mohammad al-Qahtani, [JURIST news archive] a Saudi Arabian citizen being held at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Al-Qahtani was known as the "20th hijacker" for his alleged role in the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. According to US Army Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles, 2008-05-13T08:38:00-04:00 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/pentagon-approves-death-penalty-charges.php [JURIST] Death penalty charges [JURIST report] against Guantanamo detainees Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and four other men allegedly involved in planning the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States have been confirmed by the Convening Authority [DOD press release] for the US military commissions and sent to defense lawyers, the Miami Herald reported 2008-05-13T08:38:00-04:00 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/supreme-court-takes-death-row-habeas.php [JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] granted limited certiorari Monday in Bell v. Kelly (07-1223) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], where it will consider whether the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals erred when, in conflict with decisions of the Ninth and Tenth Circuits, it applied the deferential standard of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), reserved for claims "adjudicated on 2008-05-12T14:39:00-04:00 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/supreme-court-affirms-ruling-allowing.php [JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] Monday affirmed [PDF text] a judgment by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on an anti-apartheid claims lawsuit on the rare grounds that it lacked a quorum due to four recusals. Am. Isuzu Motors, Inc., et al. v. Ntsebeza, Lungisile, et al involved a huge class of plaintiffs suing several dozen companies which did 2008-05-12T12:21:00-04:00 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/supreme-court-rules-magistrates-may.php [JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled Monday in Gonzalez v. United States [LII case backgrounder] that allowing a magistrate judge to oversee jury selection does not deprive a criminal defendant of the right to a jury trial and complies with the Federal Magistrates Act [text]. The holding affirmed a judgment [PDF text] of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth 2008-05-12T10:38:00-04:00 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/us-military-orders-first-court-martial.php [JURIST] A court-martial was ordered Sunday for Alaa "Alex" Mohammad Ali, a dual Iraqi-Canadian citizen working as a translator in Iraq. Accused of having committed aggravated assault in February in connection with the stabbing death of another contractor, he is the first civilian charged [JURIST report] by the military since a 2006 amendment [S 2766 materials] to the Uniform Code of Military 2008-05-12T08:06:00-04:00 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00 http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/doj-blackwater-probe-focused-on-guards.php [JURIST] Blackwater Worldwide [corporate website] is not likely to face criminal charges in connection with a September 16 shooting in Baghdad in which 14 Iraqi civilians were killed, AP reported Saturday, citing a half-dozen individuals closely associated with a US Department of Justice probe. The sources told AP that the investigation was concentrating on three or four individual Blackwater 2008-05-11T19:15:00-04:00 2008-05-13T13:08:00-04:00