The Senate Thursday afternoon confirmed the nomination of Jay S. Bybee to the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by a vote of 75-18. Read the official press release from the Ninth Circuit. Bybee was formerly a law professor on the faculty of the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada Las Vegas, where he taught civil procedure, constitutional law and administrative law.

The second cloture motion in the Senate to terminate debate over judicial nominee Miguel Estrada failed Thursday afternoon by a vote of 55-42 (60 votes required to carry; the first cloture motion on March 6 failed 55-44). President Bush issued a statement condemning "partisan obstructionist tactics," but the filibuster continues. The floor statement of Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy on the cloture motion is now available.

Here's what's happening on law professors' weblogs Thursday: Rick Hasen of Loyola Law School Los Angeles has a last word on his debate with colleague Lawrence Solum on political ideology and judicial selection.... Lawrence Solum, meanwhile, runs down a list of Thursday law faculty workshops.... Stanford Law's Larry Lessig parries criticism from GW Law's Orin Kerr on his characterization of judicial conduct in Eldred.... Eugene Volokh of UCLA offers a quick take on today's US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on flag displays on overpasses, and gives advice on choosing good titles for legal articles.

The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the California Department of Transportation's policy of permitting an individual to display United States flags, but no other expressive banners, on highway overpasses was unreasonable viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment. Read Brown v. California Department of Transportation[PDF].

The new President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, NYU law professor Theodor Meron, issued a statement Thursday on yesterday's assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who had played a decisive role in bringing former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milsoevic to the ICTY for trial. Judge Meron said: "Mr. Djindjic’s cooperation with the Tribunal brought international justice closer to a region which saw terrible atrocities. His death is a heavy blow to individual accountability for violations of International Humanitarian Law and to the rule of law." Read the full statement from the ICTY.

UN Legal Counsel and Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Hans Corell met Thursday with Cambodian representatives to discuss how to proceed with negotiations on a draft agreement with the Cambodian government on the establishment of a special court to try cases arising from the Khmer Rouge "killing fileds" genocide of the 1970s. More details are available from the UN. Read Under-Secretary-General Corell's recent JURIST Forum op-ed Justice for the Killing Fields Re-negotiating the Khmer Rouge Genocide Court for Cambodia.

In a press briefing Thursday, Amnesty International called for the UN Commission on Human Rights to revise its working methods and take concrete action in a variety of critical areas at its 59th session beginning next week. Read the AI briefing paper.

The US First Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday upheld a lower court ruling - previously reported in JURIST's Paper Chase - that had dismissed a complaint seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent President Bush and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld from initiating a war against Iraq without proper Congressional authority. In the appeals court, Judge Sandra Lynch wrote:

Many important questions remain unanswered about whether there will be a war, and, if so, under what conditions. Diplomatic negotiations, in particular, fluctuate daily. The President has emphasized repeatedly that hostilities still may be averted if Iraq takes certain actions. The Security Council is now debating the possibility of passing a new resolution that sets a final deadline for Iraqi compliance. United Nations weapons inspectors continue their investigations inside Iraq. Other countries ranging from Canada to Cameroon have reportedly pursued their own proposals to broker a compromise. As events unfold, it may become clear that diplomacy has either succeeded or failed decisively. The Security Council, now divided on the issue, may reach a consensus. To evaluate this claim now, the court would need to pile one hypothesis on top of another. We would need to assume that the Security Council will not authorize war, and that the President will proceed nonetheless.... If courts may ever decide whether military action contravenes congressional authority, they surely cannot do so unless and until the available facts make it possible to define the issues with clarity.

Judge Lynch continued:

Nor is there clear evidence of congressional abandonment of the authority to declare war to the President. To the contrary, Congress has been deeply involved in significant debate, activity, and authorization connected to our relations with Iraq for over a decade, under three different presidents of both major political parties, and during periods when each party has controlled Congress. It has enacted several relevant pieces of legislation expressing support for an aggressive posture toward Iraq, including authorization of the prior war against Iraq and of military assistance for groups that would overthrow Saddam Hussein. It has also accepted continued American participation in military activities in and around Iraq, including flight patrols and missile strikes. Finally, the text of the October Resolution itself spells out justifications for a war and frames itself as an "authorization" of such a war. It is true that "courts possess power to review either
legislative or executive action that transgresses identifiable textual limits" on constitutional power.... But courts are rightly hesitant to second-guess the form or means by which the coequal political branches choose to exercise their textually committed constitutional powers. As the circumstances presented here do not warrant judicial intervention, the appropriate recourse for those who oppose war with Iraq lies with the political branches.

Read the complete judgment in Doe v. Bush.

The US State Department and the Department of Homeland Security have launched a new website providing official information on visa policy and procedures. Visit UnitedStatesVisas.gov. The quote from President Bush currently featured on the website front page is jarring and somewhat telling, although perhaps not intentionally so: "America is not a fortress; no, we never want to be a fortress. We're a free country; we're an open society."

The House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property held a hearing Wednesday on "International Copyright Piracy: Links to Organized Crime and Terrorism." Witness statements are now available on the Subcommittee website.

The Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (JALWD) invites submission of proposals and articles for its Fall 2004 Learning/Thinking/Writing issue. In this "best practices" issue, the Journal will publish articles relating learning theory and cognitive research to the teaching and practice of professional legal writing. More details in JURIST's Calls for Papers.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan updated reporters Friday morning on the state of negotiations on Iraq at a stakeout session at UN Headquarters in New York. He said a summit of heads of state - not necessarily Security Council members - might be called to work out a peaceful solution to the crisis. Watch recorded video from the UN.

By a vote of 64-33 the Senate Thursday passed legislation banning "partial-birth" late-term abortions. Read a floor statement by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Orrin Hatch from March 11 supporting the bill. The legislation now goes to the House, where it is expected to pass later this spring. NARAL Pro-Choice America (formerly the National Abortion Rights Action League) quickly slammed the bill in a press release, saying that it criminalized safe, legal abortion procedures and marked the beginning of a rollback of Roe v. Wade.

Speaking Thursday in Paris, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin rejected proposed UK amendments to the draft US-UK-Spain Security Council resolution authorizing use of military force against Iraq. De Villepin said that the amendments "do not address the issues raised by the international community." Read his full statement, now online from the French Embassy in Washington, DC.

Most faculty at Harvard Law School appear to have no idea about who's being targeted in the HLS dean search, or when a candidate will be chosen, according to a story in Thursday's Harvard Crimson.... Also at HLS, Thursday's Harvard Law Record reports that former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger spoke to law students yesterday about a range of foreign policy issues, including the Iraq crisis.... School vouchers were the focus of a recent debate at Duke Law School.

A reader in Belgrade writes:

I was invited by Mr. Djindjic a few days ago (last Friday) to explain my resignation from the new University Law Drafting Commission that had been formed by the Ministry of Education. I have to be sincere: I was not one of those who loved him with all my heart, as I was very unsatisfied with his executive's domination over legislative and judiciary branches here, which has precipitated an institutional crisis. I am afraid that the assassination is also a consequence of this. Nevertheless, I was impressed with his willingness to know what had happened and his initiative to talk with a single university professor about the issue when he had so many more important problems hanging over his head. His intelligence, openness and pragmatism were impressive....Having been with him so recently, I feel even more moved and aware of the loss we have suffered.

So life goes on in Serbia, but the problem is in what direction? We willsee in a few days. If the police find the organizers of the assassination it will be a sign that this country, regardless of this tragedy, still has a chance to join the democratic world. New elections were in any case near, and only due to party political struggle and different maneuvers they did not take place yet. The elections for President of Serbia have also failed twice. I truly hope that Serbia still has strong democratic resources and candidates for elections - such as Mr. Labus and Mr. Kostunica - although the latter has been labeled as a nationalist. But Mr. Djindjic's recent call to review the Kosovo situation, which at the least is unsatisfactory, also tarred him with the nationalist label. The country is going to face a tough problem if the real organizers of the assassination cannot be found. It will not be easy to lead the country in the future, no matter who is going to be in position to do that, as they will be a hostage to personal insecurity.

JURIST's Paper Chase welcomes reader comments at JURIST@law.pitt.edu.

On March 13, 1925, Tennessee passed a law banning the teaching of evolution in schools. The violation of this law by a local schoolteacher resulted in the famous "Monkey Trial". Learn more about The State v. John Scopes from Douglas Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in JURIST's Famous Trials series.