Here's Tuesday's legal news from the US Department of Justice. The Justice Department has filed a motion in the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama to lift the stay in the case of US v. Alabama Power Co. because the company's emissions are significantly threatening to public health and the environment. The motion to lift the stay is part of the Justice Department's ongoing effort to prosecute plants in violation of the Clean Air Act. Read the DOJ press release.... As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, Attorney General John Ashcroft has been sued by Assistant US Attorney Richard Convertino, who claims that the Department has "exaggerated its performance in the war on terrorism, interfered with major terror prosecution and compromised a confidential informant". The Justice Department has not yet commented on the lawsuit. AP has more.

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In Tuesday's federal courts roundup, as reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, the US Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the government's Do-Not-Call Registry, dismissing telemarketer claims that it violates First Amendment rights. In addition to the earlier coverage, see the statement released from the telemarketers' Direct Marketing Association here. Read the full opinion here [PDF].... The US Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Major League Baseball does not have to rehire 10 umpires who resigned in 1999 in a failed labor tactic. The 2-1 decision upheld a 2002 District court ruling, which itself largely upheld an arbitration ruling in May 2001. The Rapid City Journal has the full story. Read the opinion here [PDF].... Following up on a story reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, a federal jury ordered Tyson Fresh Meats to pay a $1.28 billion award in a price fixing lawsuit. In addition to the earlier coverage, see Tyson Foods' statement standing behind its marketing agreements (from @griculture Online).

In Tuesday's family law news, the Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling that a father owes child support payments to a daughter he never knew he had until about five years ago. The daughter, Heather Clough, was concieved back in 1982 and the father, Kent Balliet, did not find out he was the father until 1998, at which point he began to make monthly child support payments until Clough graduated high school. When she turned eighteen, Clough sued Balliet claiming he owed her back child support from the day she was born. Kent County Circuit Judge Paul Sullivan found for Clough and the state appeals court upheld the decision. The statute of limitations under state paternity law restricts actions after six years, but the Court of Appeals said that for a child turning adult the statute of limitations is one year after turning eighteen. Read the opinion here. AP has more.

In Tuesday's tax law news, WBAL-TV reports that a federal district judge heard arguments today in Washington DC's attempt to reverse a congressional ban on imposing a commuter tax on the District's workers. The federal government and the states of Maryland and Virginia are among those opposing the tax. The DC City Commuter Tax Bill is here. A pro commuter-tax fact sheet from the DC advocacy website LetsfreeDC.org is here. WBAL-TV has more.

In international law news Tuesday, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Libya next week in order to review progress in the IAEA's efforts to verify that Libya's nuclear activities are placed under safeguards and are designed exclusively for peaceful purposes. This will be ElBaradei's second visit to Libya since the country agreed to conclude an Additional Protocol to its Safeguards Agreement under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The UN News Service has more.... Britain, France and Germany are expected to submit a letter to the European Commission tomorrow recommending that the Commission be restructured in order to focus its work on industry and innovation policy. The proposal would create a hierarchy of commissioners which would give prominence to those charged with boosting EU competitiveness. The Financial Times has the full story.... After unsuccessful negotiations, Barbados has submitted its fishing dispute with Trinidad and Tobago to the UN for binding dispute settlement procedures under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Barbados Advocate has the text of Prime Minister Owen Arthur's statement to the press and an analysis of the dispute between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.... According to a new European Commission survey, nearly two-thirds of Europeans want their governments to compromise so that the draft EU Constitution can be adopted. Read the Commission's report [PDF] on the results of the poll. EUobserver.com has the full story.

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In a order issued late Tuesday, the US Supreme Court per Justice O'Connor denied a petition from Guantanamo detainee Falen Gherebi that he be allowed a visit from counsel and be provided information about the case against him. The Court's Order is here [PDF]. After a federal appeals court ruled that detainees could sue in the federal courts (a ruling notably now under Supreme Court appeal itself), Gherebi sued President Bush and other federal officials in January for $1.1 billion, saying that they had violated his constitutonal liberties. Gherebi is represented by California civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman, whose law firm website is here.

In environmental law news for Tuesday, US Newswire reports that conservation groups have challenged the US government's decision to open the entire northwestern portion of the Alaskan National Petroleum Reserve to oil and gas leasing. The complaint alleges that the decision made on January 22 is in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act as it failed to provide safeguards for the region's wildlife habitat. The suit has named Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, as well as the Bureau of Land Management and the US Fish and Wildlife Service as defendants... In other news AFP reports that EU transport and energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio has stressed the need for Europe to rely on nuclear power in order to fulfill their obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. While emphasizing that recyclable energy sources should also play a key role, de Palacio believes that current problems could be aided by the use of nuclear energy. Some EU member states such as Spain, have already surpassed their quotas for use of fossil fuels... AP notes that the bald eagle may be taken off of the endangered species list as numbers have continued to grow substantially over the past four decades. A spokesman for the US Fish and Wildlife service indicated that there has been delays with removing the bald eagle from the list due to problems in generating a post-recovery plan for such the vast area in which the species lives.

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In Tuesday's immigration law news, US Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that the cap on H-1B visas had been reached for the fiscal year and that no more applications would be accepted after Tuesday. The cap on H-1B visas given to skilled foreign workers temporarily working in the US dropped back to 65,000 this year after being at 195,000 since 2000. Now that this cap has been reached for the current fiscal year, no more H-1B visas are to be issued until the start of the next fiscal year on October 1.

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In Tuesday's law school news, the Daily Pennsylvanian reports that Professor Harry Reicher of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law has been appointed by President Bush to the Holocaust Memorial Council. As adjunct professor at Penn Law, Reicher created the school's pioneering "Law and the Holocaust" course, the first of its kind to be offered at a law school; he continues to study Nazi efforts to legalize their state-supported discrimination. With his new appointment, he joins 54 presidential appointees, ten congressional representatives, and three ex-officio Cabinet members in governing the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

In other news, law schools across the country have begun to release information about keynote speakers for their 2004 commencement ceremonies. Today, the Toledo Blade reports that media mogul and mega-philanthropist Ted Turner has accepted an invitation to speak at the May 8 ceremony of the University of Toledo College of Law.

Finally, as promised in Paper Chase's initial report on February 6th, the University of Pittsburgh now offers video from Professor Derrick Bell's keynote speech at the School of Law's Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Symposium. Click here and scroll down for the video link to Bell's speech, entitled "Silent Covenant: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform."

In a continuing story last reported on yesterday in JURIST's Paper Chase, base officials at Fort Benning, Georgia, announced Tuesday that Wednesday's scheduled hearing of a case against US Army Muslim chaplain James Lee, originally charged with espionage but now only charged with adultery and possession of pornography, would be postponed for a fifth time. The postponement will allow Army lawyers yet more time to review classified documents relating to the case. AP has more.

The Recording Industry of America filed suit Tuesday against an additional 531 individuals it says have violated copyright laws by sharing music over the Internet. This brings the total number of suits launched by the RIAA against alleged infringers to over 1500. CNET has more.

In Tuesday's criminal law and punishment news, AP reports that NY's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals, ruled today that photographs of a defendant's tattoos could be used against him even though he refused to testify. The state's high court said the prosecution's use of such photographs did not violate the defendant's 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Read today's opinion here [PDF].... A new study has concluded that publicity does not affect trial verdicts in the United States despite the media's usual portrayal of defendants in a negative light. Oregon State University's The Daily Barometer has more.... AP reports that the Kansas State Senate has approved a bill in an attempt to bring the state's capital sentencing law in line with recent US Supreme Court precedent. In 2002, the United States Supreme Court held in Atkins v. Virginia [PDF] that executing the mentally retarded violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Kansas Senate bill 355 [PDF] attempts to clarify the state's ban on executing the mentally retarded so that it conforms with the holding in Atkins.

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CBS News reports that a judge in San Francisco has delayed until at least Friday a ruling on whether to issue an injunction against the city's same-sex marriage licenses.

UPDATE: The New York Times now has more.

The New York Court of Appeals Tuesday upheld Kendra's Law, allowing caseworkers, family members, and roommates of a mentally ill patient to seek a court order forcing the patient to accept treatment. The court said the law was allowing mental patients to lead more productive lifes while reducing the risk of violence. Read the opinion here. AP has more.

The US Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the government's Do-Not-Call Registry, rejecting claims by telemarketers it violates their free speech rights. The Court wrote:

We hold that the do-not-call registry is a valid commercial speech regulation because it directly advances the government’s important interests in safeguarding personal privacy and reducing the danger of telemarketing abuse without burdening an excessive amount of speech. In other words, there is a reasonable fit between the do-not-call regulations and the government’s reasons for enacting them.

Read the full opinion here [PDF]. The Federal Trade Commission has hailed the ruling as "a major victory for American consumers"; read their press release.

In Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, Cingular Wireless beat out Britain's Vodafone Group Plc and won an auction for smaller rival AT&T Wireless Services Inc. with a $41 billion offer. The deal, which creates a new US wireless leader, also marked the beginning of the anticipated consolidation in the crowded US wireless market where six national brands and a handful of regional players are battling for market share. Read the Cingular press release here. Read the Vodofone press release here. Reuters has more.... The New Jersey state attorney general's office sued Allianz Dresdner Asset Management of America, parent company of the PIMCO mutual fund group, charging it defrauded ordinary investors by allowing a major client to make improper trades worth more than $4 billion. AP has more.... Five NYSE specialist firms, including Fleet Specialist and LaBranche & Co., are attempting to reach a last-minute settlement with the SEC to avoid civil charges for allegedly mishandling trades and skimming profits on the floor of the Big Board. AP has more.... Walt Disney has unanimously rejected the bid by Comcast Corp. because it was too low. Although Disney spurned the offer, it did leave open the possibility that more money may close the deal. Read the Disney press release here. Read the Comcast press release here. AP has more.... Harrods lost a libel suit against the Wall Street Journal which compared the store to failed US energy giant Enron. BBC has more.... Former Tyco finance chief Mark Swartz, in his third day of testimony, recounted how a company director received a $20 million fee in a transaction that led to the downfall of former chairman Dennis Kozlowski. Reuters has more.... The Parmalat scandal widened as police in Italy arrested seven more people including the brother, son, and daughter of jailed company founder, Calisto Tanzi. AP has more.... EU regulators rejected another bid by Microsoft to settle antitrust claims before the expected spring verdict which among other things could be a far-reaching order to reveal more of its underlying code to rival manufacturers. AP has more.

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A Vermont court ruled Tuesday that neither former Vermont Governor (and now Democratic Presidential contender) Howard Dean nor the Vermont Secretary of State had legal authority to authorize a blanket "seal" of 145 boxes of records covering Dean's 11 years as governor. Superior Court Judge Alan W. Cook said they could only invoke executive privilege after specifically identifying each of the estimated 600,000 sealed documents and explaining why those individual records should be exempt from scrutiny. AP has more.

McKusick Law Library at the University of South Dakota now carries Paper Chase legal news on its website for the information and convenience of patrons and visitors. To carry continually-updated legal news from JURIST's Paper Chase on your website or intranet just click for newsfeed examples and simple HTML code. This is a free service.

A federal jury in Alabama Tuesday awarded a cattlemen's group a $1.28 billion verdict against Tyson Fresh Meats, the largest US beef packer, concluding that the company unfairly manipulated cattle prices. David Domina, the plaintiff's lead counsel in the class action, provides this press release on his law firm website. Tyson says it will appeal. AP has more.

Speaking Tuesday to Reuters, Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said that Israel had more to gain than to lose by participating in next week's International Court of Justice hearing on the legality of its security fence (see the official Israel Ministry of Defense Security Fence website). Israel announced last week that it would not argue its case before the tribunal; Lapid was the only member of Cabinet to vote against abstention. Reuters has more here. Israeli groups and officials are meanwhile preparing to travel to The Hague to make their case informally; one group, the Israeli Orthodox volunteer emergency organization ZAKA, is transporting a bus destroyed in a recent suicide attack which will be displayed outside the court. Again, Reuters has more.

A federal prosecutor in Detroit has launched a rare whistleblower lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft, saying that the US Department of Justice interfered in a recent prosecution, displayed "gross mismanagement" of the war on terror, and then retaliated against him when he brought his concerns to the attention of a Senate committee. Assistant US Attorney Robert Convertino, a 14-year prosecution veteran, filed court papers Friday which became public today; he was investigated by the Justice Department last fall after being dismissed from the prosecution against members of an alleged terror cell in Detriot (his lawyer claimed at the time that the dismissal was retaliatory, according to a September 12 story in the Detroit Free Press). The National Whistleblowers Center, which is representing Convertino, says on its website today:

According to the suit: “Since in or about 2002, and continuing until present, Plaintiff [AUSA Convertino] and co-counsel have been vocal and consistent with supervisors and officials within the Defendant DOJ about the lack of support and cooperation, lack of effective assistance, lack of resources and intra-departmental infighting that plagued and hindered the terrorism investigation and prosecution of United States v. Koubriti and other terrorism cases. These concerns directly related to the ability of the United States to effectively utilize the criminal justice system as a component in the ‘war on terrorism.’

The complaint alleges “gross mismanagment” within the Terrorism and Violent Crimes Section of the DOJ that “negatively impact(ed) the ability of the United States to obtain convictions in a major terrorist” trial and accused DOJ-Washington, D.C. of illegally leaking the name of a well-placed confidential informant {“CI”).

The suit also accuses high level officials within the DOJ of criminally “leaking” false and derrogatory information about AUSA Convertino. In one of the illegal discosures, DOJ provided a media source with the name of a highly confidential “CI”. This informant worked undercover and was providing information regarding terrorist related activities. After DOJ illegally released his name, the CI went into hiding and then was forced to leave the United States.

Leaking the name of a highly confidential CI was both immoral and illegal. DOJ’s leaks against Mr. Convertino are among the most egregious violations of the Privacy Act ever recorded in the United States. The officials who leaked or authorized the leak, no matter how high up in the DOJ, must be held accountable for their misconduct,” said Stephen M. Kohn, an attorney for Mr. Convertino. “Ashcroft Justice Department officials are engaging in constitutional vandalism - they have wreaked havoc on the First Amendment, and simply do not care about the health and safety of CI’s in the war on terror. DOJ’s leak seriously undermined the ability of the United States to obtain ‘human assets’ that have been deeded essential by the Attorney General in protecting American citizens from the terrible impact of another terrorist attack on American soil,” Kohn added.

AP has more. Convertino's complaint is available here [PDF].

AP reports that Russian prosecutors have added theft charges to the fraud and tax evasion charges already filed against YUKOS oil company shareholder Platon Lebedev. Lebedev, along with YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is in jail awaiting trial as part of a wide-ranging and controversial probe into the Russian oil company.

Iraq Shiite leaders warned Tuesday that any veto by US Administrator Paul Bremer of a draft Iraqi constitution derived from Islamic law would spark a serious crisis. Bremer alluded to a possible veto in comments Monday responding to calls from Governing Council members for an Islamic charter, saying that the US was committed to the protection of civil liberties. A draft Iraqi constitution is due by the end of February. AFP has more. Strong pressure from Shiite clerics for greater self-determination and full elections, combined with tensions with Iraq's Sunni community, are leading some observers to suggest that the Iraq may slowly be slipping into civil war as the June 30 deadline for Iraqis to take power approaches.

AP reports that more than 100 reformist lawmakers in Iran have sent a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (the BBC provides a profile) accusing him of trampling on the "freedoms and the rights of the people" in the name of Islam following his support for the disqualification of roughly 2,400 liberal candidates from Friday's scheduled parliamentary elections. In Iran, open criticism of the Ayatollah is rare, as he is seen by supporters as being infallible and answerable only to God.

In Paris Tuesday, French prosecutors said they have appealed against the conviction of former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe, now Mayor of Bordeaux and the head of President Jacque Chirac's political party, who last month received an 18-month suspended sentence and was subjected to a 10-year ban on political activity - essentially ending his political career - after the court found him guilty of illegal party funding. The prosecutor in the case had sought only an 8-month suspended sentence with no ban; under French law, prosecutors can appeal against sentences considered too lenient or too harsh. AP has more.

A UN draft report issued Monday criticized several countries, including the United States, for introducing vague and imprecise anti-terror laws that endangered human rights, and for setting up special military tribunals to try terrorists without the benefit of ordinary procedural protections. The UN Commission on Human Rights Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that "States do not have the right to controvert principles as fundamental as the presumption of innocence ... and the right to be judged within a reasonable period of time by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal." The draft report of the Working Group is scheduled for debate by the full commission on March 15. Reuters has more.

Following the entry into force late last month of the statute setting up the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, Amnesty International said Tuesday that the Court's success "will depend on the appointment of highly qualified judges with a strong commitment to human rights" and offered a checklist of suggested criteria for the appointment of judges. The checklist stresses the desirability of an open, transparent nomination and selection process, and a balance of gender and regional representation. Review the checklist (with the statute of the court appended) and an accompnaying press release from Amnesty.

The British Government announced Tuesday that it is commiting £2 million to the reconstruction of Iraq's judicial system. The funds will be used to provide training for almost 1,000 judges, prosecutors and lawyers starting at the end of February (by which point the draft of the country's interim Constitution is supposed to be complete) as well as to support study tours and institutional partnerships. 10 Downing Street offers a press release here.

In Tuesday's media and information law news, lawyers for a Canadian journalist whose home and office were searched by police last month have sought access to the sealed affidavits used by police to obtain a search warrant, the Canadian Press reports. Royal Canadian Mounted Police searched the journalist's home and office in an effort to find the source of leaked information about a Canadian citizen deported to Syria from the US on suspicion of terrorism. It is unclear whether the reason for the Mounties' search will be made public by the courts.... According to Reporters Without Borders, Sri Lankan officials have revoked a television broadcasting license granted to the Asian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC, which broadcasts five radio stations, was planning to launch a television station with the license it had been granted in 1995. RSF has more.... Bangladesh remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, according to an AP report. One journalist has already been killed this year, and many have received threats from rebel communist groups. Reporters Without Borders offers a look at reports on media freedom in Bangladesh from the past year.

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A federal judge will rule Thursday on a proposed settlement agreement between insurance company New York Life and the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit who sought payments from the company under life insurance policies taken out by relatives who were later killed in the Turkish genocide of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923. New York Life sold some 8000 policies to residents of the former Ottoman Empire - including Armenians - from the 1880s. The company paid benefits under about a third of the polices held by Armenians but to this point had left the rest to languish on the grounds that heirs could not be found. Under the proposed settlement, $11 million will go to pay claims by heirs of some 2,400 policyholders, and another $3 million would go to Armenian charitable organizations. New York Life press release initially announcing the settlement on January 28, 2004, is here. The US-based Armenian Bar Association provides background information and documentation. AP has more.

A California Superior County judge will be asked to enter an injunction today against the same-sex marriage licenses that have been issued by the city of San Francisco since last Thursday. Another 825 licenses were issued Monday, bringing the 5-day total to 2464, according to Bay City News. Opponents of same-sex marriage - including the Alliance Defense Fund and Campaign for California Families - will argue that the licences are illegal under California state law (see Proposition 22, passed in 2000) that limits the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a women, and that city officials have no power to refuse to enforce a state law or unilaterally declare it unconstitutional. Read the Campaign for California Familes complaint here [PDF]. Attorneys for the city will argue that all Californians are due equal protection under the state Constitution. A number of lawyers in private practice have offered to assist the city pro bono in its defnse. Tuesday's San Francisco Chronicle has more.

In Tuesday's US law and business press, the Texas Lawyer reports that the TX Court of Criminal Appeals has set standards to follow for Atkins v. Virginia claims by ruling that a defendant seeking to overturn his death sentence for the robbery and murder of a TX sheriff failed to prove that he is mentally retarded.... The Texas Lawyer also reports on how a first-year Houston associate helped a Zimbabwean woman gain asylum in the US.... The Connecticut Law Tribune reports on CT Governor John G. Rowland's selection of two high-powered NY and DC attorneys to represent him in a possible impeachment proceeding and whether CT's unauthorized practice of law statute applies to impeachment lawyers.... The Legal Intelligencer reports that a class action lawsuit involving NE Philadelphia mental health patients treated by a man posing as a psychiatrist has been settled for $3.5 million.... FindLaw's Writ features attorney Julie Hilden's column on "Nipplegate" and the dangers of chilling free speech.

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Here are some of the legal stories running in Tuesday's foreign press... Aljazeera reports the passage of Qatar's first anti-terrorist law. Though specific details have been withheld, the Shura's secretary general indicated the law will allow the detention of terrorism suspects based on secret evidence and without the benefit of a trial.... Israel's Haaretz covers the continuing confrontation between the government and the High Court over the definition of a 'dignified human existence'. The standard, required by the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom, is being used to challenge the government's plans to lower guaranteed incomes for the poor.... The Times of Tibet features coverage of the use of secret trials to silence Tibetan activists. Because the government claimed state secrets were involved, defendants were denied independent legal counsel and all documents and evidence have been withheld from disclosure.

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On February 17, 1964, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Wesberry v. Sanders that congressional districts within each state had to be roughly equal in population. Learn more about Congressional redistricting from the Center for Voting and Democracy.