In Friday's federal courts roundup, the US First Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that former Massachusetts governor Jane Swift does not have qualified immunity in a lawsuit filed by a former state Turnpike Authority board member. The ruling means that Swift may not be protected from paying monetary damages in the case. AP has the full story. See the opinion here.... President Bush has nominated Missouri Supreme Court Judge Duane Benton of the Missouri Supreme Court to the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. AP reports that Benton would replace Judge Theodore McMillian, who is taking on the role of a senior judge.... As posted earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, Judge Richard Kyle (US District Court, District of Minnesota) granted permanent residence status to thousands of asylees. Read the opinion here [PDF].

In Friday's immigration law news, a District Court in Minnesota has ordered the government to atone for its "widespread, egregious and plainly harmful" violations of law and grant permanent residence status to thousands of asylees. The asylees are on a waiting list to be granted permanent residence. In the meantime, they have had to file annually for employment authorization and have not been entitled to other benefits of being a permanent resident. Judge Richard Kyle disagreed with the government's argument that it was not obligated to fill all 10,000 yearly spots allocated to asylees adjusting to permanent residence status. Kyle's decision will shorten the wait for about 150,000 asylees waiting for their green cards. (See also an earlier Paper Chase posting.)

In Friday’s legal profession news, an influx of national law firms into Phoenix in the wake of significant growth in Arizona's economy and population could mean that that city's status as a legal center is heading towards a par with that of other big commercial centers like Atlanta, Dallas and Houston. The Phoenix Business Journal has more.... LexisNexis and the International Bar Association have released a survey suggesting that lawyers around the world are seeking to advance their practices by more international legal information and by investing more in technology. Read a press release here.... Finally, the American Bar Association Section on Litigation has given 3M its 2004 Pro Bono Award for their commitment to providing pro bono services to those in need. Read the ABA press release here.

In Friday's Congressional news, the Senate has passed the $318 billion Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2003, according to today's New York Times. The bill, S 1072, remains far more expensive than urged by the White House, but is less pricey than the current House version, HR 2088, with which it eventually must be resolved. The 76-21 voting breakdown can be found here. AP reports that the measure may face a presidential veto unless costs can be brought down.... Reuters reports that the Senate Intelligence Committee last night voted unanimously to expand its investigation into the role of intelligence in official statements about weapons of mass destruction leading up to the war in Iraq. The BBC has more.

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The US Department of Defense announced Friday that it had delivered a Spanish-national detainee from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Spanish Government for continued detention. The Department said that senior DOD and US government officials had determined that the detainee no longer required detention by the United States. Read the DOD press release. The Spanish government had requested the repatriation in connection with an ongoing investigation of its own into Al Qaida activities in the country; it has asked for the release of three other detained Spanish nationals for purposes of the same probe. Reuters has more.

Here's Friday's legal news from the US Department of Justice. Attorney General John Ashcroft has responded to today's sentencing of Earnest James Ujaama, a Seattle-raised Muslim convert who pleaded guilty last year to aiding Al Qaida militants, to two years in prison. Ashcroft stated, "[a]s part of our war on terror, the cooperation of insiders with direct knowledge of the activities of dangerous terrorists could help us save innocent American lives... Ujaama pled guilty and accepted responsibility for his criminal conduct, agreeing to cooperate fully with our fight." The Seattle Times reports that with credit for time served, Ujaama will be free this summer. Until then, he will spend his time in a halfway house. Read the AP story and the DOJ press release.

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The Food and Drug Administration has postponed a decision that was to be made next week on whether the so-called "morning after" pill for emergency contraception should be sold over the counter without a prescription. The manufacturer, Barr Laboratories, said late this afternoon that the FDA had extended its decision deadline until May so it can gather more information about 16- and 17-year-olds using the pills. The Barr Labs press release is here. AP has more.

Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore, who in November was removed from office by a special state judiciary court over his failure to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the state Judicial Building, today introduced "The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004" [DOC] into Congress with the help of Alabama Senator Richard Shelby (R) and Representative Robert Aderholt (R). The proposed legislation would "restrict the appellate jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court and all lower federal courts to that jurisdiction permitted them by the Constitution of the United States." The Birmingham News reports today that Moore also will seek to challenge his ouster in court, arguing that the state court failed to consider the legality of the federal court order disobeyed by Moore when he refused to remove the monument. Alabama's WAFF.com provides a copy of a Q & A press release about the bill today offered in Congress.

In international law news Friday, following a week-long conference on ballast water management, the International Maritime Organization has adopted a new international convention designed to prevent the damaging effects of the spread of harmful aquatic organisms carried by ships' ballast water. Marking the occasion, IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos said that "with the adoption of this Convention, the Organization has made global provisions to control and manage ships' ballast water and thus prevent, minimize and ultimately eliminate the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens across the seas and oceans of the world." Read the draft International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments as it was submitted to the International Conference on Ballast Water Management for Ships. Also see the IMO's press release on today's adoption of the treaty and more from Reuters.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Israel's Justice Minister has said that he favored Israeli participation in the ICJ hearing on its security fence, although he anticipated a negative ruling. Israel officially notified the International Court of Justice this morning that it would not participate in the hearings. ICJ case materials for the security fence hearing are available here.... A spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, has raised concerns over Afghanistan's trial process after two men were convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a UN staff member. While noting that the men have the right of appeal, Silva said that there were some "procedural shortcomings in the trial," including the fact that no witnesses to the crime were present at the trial. The UN News Service has the full story. Silva's comments are included in this press briefing.

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CNN reports that John B. "Bill" Calhoun, retired from the Alabama Air National Guard, has stepped forward to say that he observed President Bush performing his National Guard duties during a period of time in 1972 for which the White House has been unable to conclusively prove that the President, then a Guard member, was there. The revelation could quiet speculation that Bush was "AWOL" during that year, a charge levied by Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe. Earlier this week, the White House provided evidence that Bush was paid by the Guard, but failed to show that Bush was present during the entire period for which he was paid. Calhoun's ex-wife corroborated the statements of Bush's former commander, adding that Calhoun had spoken at the time of meeting Bush. Calhoun's statements came only a day after retired Lt. Colonel Bill Burkett claimed to have seen a National Guard member destroy a personnel file on Bush following an alleged request by then-Governor Bush's Chief of Staff in 1997. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan addressed the issue at length in a press conference today.

In environmental law news for Friday, US Newswire reports that environmental group Clean Air Trust has attacked the Bush administration for its decision to weaken clean air protections for national parks. The focus of the controversy revolves around North Dakota's desire to permit more energy development and pollution near the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The EPA, which had previously opposed the action, reversed its position today and has announced that will it adopt new methods of measuring the pollution. Environmentalists claim that today's actions undercut one of the main purposes of the Clean Air Act.... In other news, AP reports that environmental groups have initiated a lawsuit against ExxonMobil for violating permitted hourly emissions limits at the company's refinery near New Orleans. The suit alleges that equipment breakdowns at the plant are the primary cause of the violations and charges that the refinery has failed to adequately document discharges.... Finally, AP notes that the EPA has ordered the city of Dallas to correct ongoing environmental problems such as illegally discharging and allowing pollutants into local waterways. If the city fails to correct the problems, they could be fined as much as $27,500 per day, per violation.

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Reuters reports that more than a thousand Kenyans who claimed in court that they were injured by munitions from British troops have accepted a settlement from the British government. The settlement of £500,000, or about $945,000 dollars, is considerably smaller than the award in a 2002 case that went to verdict. There, 233 Kenyans were awarded £4.5 million in a similar claim against the British Army for munitions injuries sustained as a result of British military exercises in the African nation since World War II. In the current case, the defense had provided evidence that the munitions may in fact have been of Kenyan origin, thus prompting plaintiffs to settle. The Kenyans were members of the remote Maasai and Samburu tribes. The BBC has more.

In Friday's civil rights news, the Huntsville Times reports that Alabama Governor Bob Riley asked his staff today to review a state Department of Public Safety policy that prohibits Muslim women from wearing traditional religious head scarves in their state driver's license photos. Yesterday over 50 Muslims and Sikhs protested the policy at the state capital. Governor Riley will not allow burkas, which cover the entire face of a woman, but says a compromise could be reached. The Human Rights Committee of the Birmingham Islamic Society, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the ACLU are all working together to abolish the policy.... The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that the Kentucky Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill yesterday that would recognize life as beginning at conception, thus making it a crime to kill a fetus. House Bill 108 has an exception for abortions, which will not be criminalized in the state. The bill gives legal rights to the fetus, and could be used to hold pregnant women liable when their fetus dies due to a criminal act the woman committed. The Reproductive Freedom Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky would rather see legislation that punishes people who harm pregnant women, rather than a bill that gives the fetus its own legal rights.

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In Friday's corporations and securities law news, federal prosecutors are preparing to indict former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeffrey Skilling by next week on criminal charges related to the downfall of the company. The Houston Chronicle has more.... Lockheed Martin, which was to acquire defense contractor Titan Corp. for $2.4 billion, says it is asking Titan permission to look into payments to international consultants after the SEC launched an investigation. Read Titan's announcement of the SEC investigation here. Read the Lockheed Martin press release here. The Washington Business Journal has more.... The judge in the Martha Stewart trial has blocked the prosecution from using expert testimony to show whether Stewart's public comments about the sale of her ImClone stock was important to investors. AP has more.... GlaxoSmithKline received a subpoena from the Colorado US Attorney's Office relating to an investigation into the marketing and promotion of several of the company's best-selling products. AP has more.... In what is being termed as the first real merger in the European airline industry, securities regulators in Europe and the US have approved Air France's takeover of Dutch KLM. Read the Air France press release here[PDF]. Reuters has more.

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In remarks in Miami Friday, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that detainees held by the US at Guantanamo Bay Cuba will be allowed to appeal their detentions to a review board that would meet annually to determine whether they remained a threat to the United States or could be released. AP has more. The full text of Secretary Rumsfeld's remarks should be available shortly on the DOD website.

Leading Friday's law schools brief, the University of Richmond has announced that former Solicitor General and US Circuit Court of Appeals judge Robert Bork will join the faculty of the university's T.C. Williams School of Law in the fall. A highly accomplished scholar and practitioner of the law, Bork is still best known for the nasty confirmation battle that his nomination to the Supreme Court engendered in 1987, and that inspired the pejorative term "borking." As Distinguished Professor of American Law and Culture at Richmond, Bork will teach courses in constitutional law to law students, undergraduates, and the general public.

Also in the comings and goings category, Dean David Yellen of the Hofstra University School of Law has announced that he will step down at the conclusion of his term in May. The New York Law Journal offers more on the story here.

Lastly, the Daily Texan reports that an Islamic law conference at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law has raised concerns about discrimination after a special agent for Army Intelligence appeared on campus and demanded a list of conference-goers. The Army's appearance tends to confirm the advance billing that the conference, entitled "Islam and the Law: The Question of Sexism?" received: "Due to the American government's concerted interaction and intervention with Middle Eastern ... nations with predominantly Muslim populations, this conference is of paramount importance at this juncture in American history." Read the Texan's full report here.

Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have accepted a United Nations plan to unify Cyprus and establish a new Cypriot constitution. Cyprus has been split into Turkish and Greek areas since 1974 when Turkey invaded the island. The UN plan drafted by Secretary-General Kofi Annan calls for unification before Cyprus' entry into the European Union on May 1, 2004. Detailed negotiations for implementation of the agreement will start in Cyprus on February 19. Read a copy of the unification plan and the associated constitution here. Reuters has more.

In the wake of Israel's official message to the International Court of Justice refusing to participate in its pending hearing on the legality of the Israeli security fence (previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase), a spokesman for Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said Friday that the Minister "anticipates a negative ruling for Israel but still believed that government representative should attend the hearings" at The Hague. Lapid was the only member of the Israeli cabinet to disagree with its decision not to take part in the world court proceeding. AFP has more.

The Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal handed Governor Jeb Bush and the parents of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo two victories Friday morning in ongoing litigation over whether she was legally kept alive by having a feeding tube re-inserted after her hushand had it removed on the presumption that that would have been in accord with her wishes. In the first case the court ruled that Bush's attorneys can question witnesses in the court battle over the hastily-passed law [PDF] that purportedly gave the Governor authority to intervene. Read the opinion here [PDF]. In the second case the court held that a lower court judge incorrectly denied Schiavo's parents their right to intervene [PDF] in the constitutional challenge to that law. Read the opinion here [PDF]. AP has more.

Following up a story reported yesterday afternoon on JURIST's Paper Chase, California opponents of same-sex marriage are taking their case to court a day after San Francisco officials acting by direction of new mayor Gavin Newsom issued 95 marriage licences to same-sex couples, and married 87 on the spot. More licences and marriages are expected to be issued today while the Campaign for California Families and other groups seek a restraining order from a California Superior Court judge. Same-sex marriage is not authorized under California state law, which regards marriage as a contract between a man and a woman. AP has more.

In Friday's media and information law news, a US District Judge has ordered the US Postal Service to release records about the anthrax attacks of 2001, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The public interest group Judicial Watch had requested the records under the Freedom of Information Act in 2001, but received no answer before filing suit in June 2002. The court ordered the Postal Service to provide justification for any documents withheld and to produce any others. The opinion can be found here. RCFP has more.... The Ugandan Supreme Court has struck down a law that barred the publication of false information, calling it too broad and vague to serve its purpose, the Monitor in Uganda reports. The law was challenged by the Monitor, which had been charged several times with the criminal offense in the past several years.

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In the wake of yesterday's cabinet decision, Israel officially notified the International Court of Justice in The Hague this morning that it will not send a delegation to appear before the tribunal on the security fence issue. Cabinet members stressed that sending such a delegation could be seen as accepting the tribunal's jurisdiction over the matter. The Jerusalem Post has more.

US District Judge Richard Kyle ruled Thursday that the US government must grant permanent resident status to nearly 22,000 asylum holders nationwide in order to ensure that they possess proper work documents. This ruling was the result of a class-action lawsuit initiated by the American Immigration Law Foundation of Washington, DC. AP has more.

Two years and two law suits later, the FDA has finally approved ImClone's cancer drug, Erbitux. It was the initial rejection of this drug that formed the backbone to suits agaist Martha Stewart and Samuel Waksal. The New York Times has more.

The Massachusetts Constitutional Convention ended at midnight with no agreement among legislators on proposed amendments relating to same-sex marriage. As a result, Goodridge v. Department of Health, the last word of the Supreme Judicial Court on the subject, essentially legalizing gay marriage, is left intact for the time being. State legislators will reconvene in constitutional convention on March 11. Today's Boston Globe has much more. The Journal of the Wednesday session of the Convention - indicating amendments proposed and votes taken - is now available online.

In Friday's US law and business press, the New York Law Journal reports that movie star Steven Seagal's former production partner, Julius Nasso, is suing NY law firm Loeb & Loeb for $25 million, alleging that the firm committed malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty by representing both men and then siding with Seagal against Nasso in a subsequent dispute.... The New York Law Journal further reports on a Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that government regulations allowing power plants killing large numbers of fish to restock surrounding waters with new fish violate the Clean Water Act.... The Boston Business Journal reports that the former head of KM Logistics Inc. has been sentenced in federal court for mail fraud, wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud.... FindLaw's Writ features former White House counsel John W. Dean's commentary on investigating pre-war intelligence relating to Iraq's WMD, as well as Virgin Mobile general counsel Peter Lurie's book review of Bruce Bimber and Richard Davis's Campaigning Online: The Internet & US Elections.

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David Dudley Field, a champion of legal codification in the United States, was born in Haddam, Connecticut, on February 13, 1805. Learn more about the life and career of David Dudley Field.