Recommended readings from the latest legal news:

• Judge Stops State From Collecting Philip Morris Damages | AP
• U.S. court rejects latest FAA overflight fee rule | Reuters
• 'Designer baby' ban quashed | BBC
• Lawyers for Georgia Governor, Attorney General Argue Over Who Calls Legal Shots | AP
• N.C. Supreme Court Hears Potentially Historic Death Row Appeal | AP
• Milosevic court indicts journalist | BBC
• Justice Department Urges Supreme Court to Reject Guantanamo Detainee Appeal | AP
• Colorado to Become First State With Public School Vouchers Since Supreme Court Ruling | AP
• British army calls on local police to restore law and order in Basra | Ananova

See JURIST's Legal News for updates.

Recommended readings from the latest legal news:

• Appeals court throws out AT&T slamming fine | Reuters
• Protesters to Appeal Judge's Ruling Upholding Augusta Rally Restrictions | AP
• Hague tribunal rejects Bosnian prison camp appeal | Reuters
• Court Ruling May Spur Cross-Burning Bans | AP
• European Court Hands Victory to Discounters in Dispute Over Clothing Imports | AP
• Russia Accused of Chechnyan Violations | AP

See JURIST's Legal News for updates.

Col. James H. Rosenblatt, chief counsel for the US Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia, was named dean of the Mississippi College School of Law Tuesday. Read more in the Jackson Mississippi Clarion Ledger.

"It is past time to consider an amendment to the Constitution's minimum age requirements for representatives to the House, Senate, and Presidency - at 25, 30, and 35, respectively - which perpetuates an antiquated age discrimination that cries out for latter-day reform." So says John Seery, Professor of Politics and Chair of the Politics Department at Pomona College in a Tuesday editorial:

Initially the Framers of the Constitution were not going to include any minimum age requirements. James Wilson argued against them. James Madison says offhandedly in Federalist 62 that advanced age requirements would afford representatives with greater "information and stability of character." But he offers no further argument to back his 18th-century prejudice. Surely today we recognize that such structural constraints violate a fundamental principle of representative democracy: Let the voters decide such matters for themselves!

The benefits of opening up the representative system to all eligible voters would far outweigh any possible costs. Many of our voting-age youth have evidently withdrawn their energies from the electoral system. The 18-24 year old voting rates have declined steadily from 1972 to 2000. 50 percent of the 18-24 yr. old voters cast a ballet in 1972; only 35 percent of the same group voted in 2000. Opening up the competition for congressional offices could invigorate the system at all levels. Imagine if younger candidates could by-pass the entrenched party hierarchies that reward life-long insiders and gray-haired hacks.

Moreover, many of our most pressing political, economic, and cultural conflicts in the coming years are inter-generational. Militarism, environmentalism, global warming, budget deficits, health care, stock market investment, the future viability of Social Security are all hot-button issues that look quite different as assessed from short-term versus long-term perspectives. But the system is clearly rigged in favor of old folks. The demographics of the United States are now also skewed heavily toward an aging population. The AARP has become a powerful lobby. Young voters, however, cannot even run for federal office or elect one of their own. They should be allowed the minimal right to compete for office or the chance to elect someone who speaks directly on their behalf.

Read the full text of Seery's column Politics for the Ages: Young People Sent to Fight Wars Deserve Constitutional Amendment.

Press reports Tuesday say that the Greece is once again calling for the return of the Elgin Marbles, the Parthenon friezes removed by British Ambassador Lord Elgin in 1803 and sold to the British Musuem, where they are on display today. For a survey of the legal questions raised by the removal and possible repatriation of the Marbles, see Irini A. Stamatoudi, The Law and Ethics Deriving from the Parthenon Marbles Case (1997). The British Museum provides information on the ownership of the Marbles, and the Greek Ministry of Culture has an elaborate website on The Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia announced Tuesday that an indictment for contempt of court has been confirmed against the owner of a Montenegrin newspaper for revealing the identity of a protected witness in the Milosevic war crimes trial. Read the ICTY press release, and review the ICTY Prosecutor's indictment.

The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing Tuesday on a proposed constitutional amendment to protect crime victims. Watch live video from the Committee.

The argument in favor of an international war crimes tribunal for Iraq - as opposed to an Iraqi tribunal primarily staffed by Iraqi exiles - seems to have been strengthened in light of concerns noted in UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recent report on potential problems with a special Cambodian court to try crimes of the Khmer Rouge. If the now-relatively-stable Cambodian government and judiciary might not have the capacity and legitimacy to stage successful genocide trials, what chance is there for Iraq war crimes trials to succeed both domestically and internationally while Iraq faces massive governmental and legal reconstruction?

A full transcript of Monday's Pentagon briefing on the law of war by Special Assistant to the Judge Advocate General for the Army W. Hays Parks and US ambassador for war crimes issues Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper is now online from the Defense Department. On prosecution of Iraqis for war crimes, Ambassador Prosper said:

...we have begun to catalogue the numerous abuses, both past and present that have been committed by the Iraqi regime. Our troops have been given the additional mission of securing and preserving evidence of war crimes and atrocities that they uncover.

As President Bush has stated, war criminals will be prosecuted. The day of Iraq's liberation will also be a day of justice. For any war crimes committed against U.S. personnel, our policy is that we will investigate and we will prosecute. We will also seek to prosecute, where feasible, those who committed or ordered war crimes against U.S. personnel during the Gulf War.

For any war crimes committed against Iraqi people during the course of this conflict, we'll explore the range of options available, work to ensure that justice is achieved for the Iraqi people. For past abuses, past atrocities, it is our view that there should be accountability. We will work with Iraqi people to create an Iraqi-led process that will bring justice for the years of abuses that have occurred.

Human Rights Watch Monday called plans for a U.S.-sponsored, Iraqi-led judicial process for the prosecution of Iraqi war crimes a "mistake", and is urging the creation of an international tribunal:

A tribunal composed of Iraqi jurists selected by the United States would not have the capacity to adjudicate the staggering scope of crimes by the Iraqi government, including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

Iraq's Revolutionary Courts, State Security Courts, and Special Provisional Courts have been instruments of repression rather than impartial judicial institutions.... The Iraqi state has also interfered with other civil and criminal courts. Meanwhile, scholars, lawyers, and jurists in the Iraqi exile community should not be expected to shoulder the burden of handling a high volume of politically charged prosecutions....

"After decades of Ba'ath Party rule, the Iraqi judiciary has been deeply compromised," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "The Iraqis should certainly be involved in this process, but the country's justice system just doesn't have the capacity to handle a series of highly complicated trials."

Read the full HRW press release.

The United Nations has released Secretary-General Kofi Annan's report to the General Assembly on negotiations for the establishment of a special Cambodian tribunal to try cases arising out of the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s. The report says that the new draft agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Cambodia on the establishment and procedure of the Court is a "considerable improvement" over previous documents, but it notes continuing doubts over the credibility of the tribunal given the precarious state of that country's judiciary. Review the full text of the report[PDF].

The International Federation of Journalists Tuesday condemned attacks on journalists by both sides in the Iraq war and called for an independent international inquiry after an attack on a hotel where journalists are staying in Baghdad and after US troops allegedly destroyed the offices of Al Jazeera Television and Abu Dhabi Television.

"There is no doubt at all that these attacks could be targeting journalists. If so, they are grave and serious violations of international law," said Aidan White, General Secretary of the IFJ. "The bombing of hotels where journalists are staying and targeting of Arab media are particularly shocking events in a war which is being fought in the name of democracy. Those who are responsible must be brought to justice". At the same time the IFJ condemns what appears to be Iraqi tactics of using civilians and journalists as a "human shield" against attack. "The Baghdad authorities are just as culpable with their reckless disregard for civilian lives," said White.

Read the full IFJ press release.

Recommended readings from the latest legal news:

• Ruling Backs Anti-Spam Activist | Washington Post
• Attorneys general ask judge to lower Philip Morris bond in Illinois class-action lawsuit | Newsday
• Tribunals Nearly Ready for Afghanistan Prisoners | New York Times
• Iran Stands Trial in 1983 Suicide Bombing in Beirut | Washington Post
• Lawyers Unionize, Vote to Join the Teamsters | Law.com
• Judges contemplate legality of Ten Commandments plaque on county courthouse | NEPA News
• New Law Sets Controls On Use Of Medical Data | ctnow.com
• State wants Bill of Rights back | AP
• Court: Gun owners may be sued | Indystar.com
• Calif. court eases path for shareholders to sue | Reuters
• Writing A Constitution For Post-War Iraq | VOA

See JURIST's Legal News for updates.

On April 8, 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment to the US Constitution, providing for the election of senators by popular vote rather than selection by state legislatures, was ratified. Learn more about the Seventeenth Amendment.