In Monday's federal courts roundup, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today dismissed a lawsuit seeking to abolish clergy-led prayer at Presidential inaugurations. The suit was filed be Michael Newdow, an atheist who successfuly argued in front of the same court that the Pledge of Allegiance could not constitutionally be recited in public schools. The three-judge panel ruled that Newdow did not suffer "a sufficiently and concrete specific injury." AP has the full story.... The White House has nominated Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa of the US District Court, Southern District of Texas to chair the US Sentencing Commission. Hinojosa replaces Judge Diana E. Murphy of the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, who resigned from the chair last month.... The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has cancelled oral arguments in the case in which Norma McCorvey sought to overturn the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. McCorvey was the plaintiff in the landmark abortion rights ruling. How Appealing has an excerpt from the docket entry.

In Monday's Congressional news, the Senate today resumed session following a week-long break. Floor activity consisted of debate over S 2061, known as the "Healthy Mothers and Healthy Babies Access to Care Act of 2003." The bill, sponsored by New Hampshire Republican Senator Judd Gregg, would serve primarily to limit damages in medical malpractice suits against obstetricians and gynecologists. Specifically, the legislation would limit non-economic damages in such suits to $250,000 and would place restrictions on attorney contingency fees. Punitive damages would be allowed only where compensatory damages were awarded and only where the medical personnel acted "with malicious intent to injure the claimant or deliberately failed to avoid unnecessary injury the claimant was substantially certain to suffer." The Senate bill corresponds to HR 5, which was passed by the House in March 2003. That measure additionally prevents recovery of collateral benefits. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has posted his floor statement strongly supporting the tort reform measure. A cloture vote is planned for tomorrow.... The House, meanwhile, will resume session tomorrow with consideration of HR 1997. As reported by Jen Nolan earlier today for JURIST's Paper Chase, that legislation would impose criminal liability of murder or assault to one who unlawfully takes the life of or causes bodily injury to a fetus. AP has more.

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In international law news Monday, the International Criminal Court has announced that its prosecutor will launch a preliminary investigation into crimes committed during a massacre of 200 people this weekend at a displaced person's camp in Northern Uganda, allegedly by the renegade Lord's Resistance Army. During the preliminary investigation, the ICC prosecutor will gather information to determine if there is enough evidence to launch a legal probe. Read the ICC's press release [PDF] and the full story from AFP. BBC News has more. The Refugee Law Project offers this working paper [PDF] on the conflict in northern Uganda.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the International Court of Justice has begun its consideration of the legality of Israel's security fence by hearing Palestine's oral arguments. The ICJ has posted a verbatim record of Monday's public hearings here [PDF]; archived video can be found here. Written statements received by the ICJ, including those from states making oral presentations to the court, are available here. Reuters has more.... Monday's meeting of EU foreign ministers is expected to result in a warning to Russia that it must expand its existing trade and political agreement to the 10 new EU member states. Russia is currently refusing to expand the agreement unless it gains more trade concessions and visa-free travel for its citizens. An EU official has said that this puts Russia in breach of the agreement and susceptible to possible EU sanctions. BBC News has the full story. Read the Council's conclusions about EU relations with Russia [PDF - see page 6].... Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has been postponed for two more days due to Milosevic's ill health. The ICTY press release is here. AP has more. As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the presiding judge in Milosevic's trial is set to step down May 31.

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In Monday's family law news, the Arizona Senate passed a bill Monday that would it make it a crime for a married adult to marry a child or to cohabit with a child as husband and wife. It also makes it a crime to arrange for such marriage or cohabitation. The bill now moves to the House. AP has more.

The Pentagon announced Monday that it has started a probe of Kellogg Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, for criminal fraud, including "the potential overpricing of fuel delivered to Baghdad by a KBR subcontractor" according to a spokeswoman. Reuters has more. The investigation is being carried out by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the investigatory arm of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense.

In Monday's tax law news, computer chip maker Intel said today in a regulatory filing that the IRS is auditing its returns for tax years 2001 and 2002. The audit began last month and centers on a tax credit Intel took that the IRS questions. The tax credit is an incentive to increase US manufacturing. Intel, however, sends its chips overseas for testing and assembly, therefore the IRS argues it is ineligible for the credit. The San Jose Mercury News has more.... AP reports that US accounting firms are outsourcing tax return preparation to recent college graduates in India, raising concerns about identity theft. Read more here.... AP reports that the US Supreme Court Monday asked the US Solicitor General to file a brief on the whether it should hear a case involving Sherril, New York's attempt to tax a textile plant and gas station owned by the Oneida Indian Nation. Sherrill County is appealing a decision by the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a district court ruling that the land owned by the Oneida Nation is Indian land protected by federal law. Sherrill argues that the Indian rights terminated when the Oneida Nation sold the land in 1838 through the Treaty of Buffalo Creek. Read more here.

In Monday's law school news, the New York Law Journal reports on Social Justice Initiatives, a new and innovative program for social reform at Columbia Law School. Dean Ellen Chapnick says that the program "means to think systematically how Columbia can educate and inspire students and lawyers in government, it means continual reform and capacity-building projects nationally and internationally to assist students and practicing lawyers in government and human rights." Early areas of interest include the duties of state and local government under the "new federalism," and pro bono legal work in Latin America.

The New York Law Journal also reports that the Hofstra University School of Law has named Professor Alan Resnick as its new interim dean. Resnick replaces Dean David Yellen, who announced earlier this month that he would step down at the conclusion of his term in May. Read the Journal's full report here, and JURIST's initial report on the transition here.

Seventeen US soldiers have been suspended from duty in Iraq pending the outcome of an investigation of allegations that they abused prisoners. AP has more. An initial US investigation of abuse reports by US soldiers in Baghdad was announced by DoD and military officials in January; also last month, three reservists were discharged for abusing prisoners at a detention camp in southern Iraq. Review the terms of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and the US Army Judge Advocate General's Law of War Workshop Deskbook 2000, Chapter 5 - POWs and Detainees [DOC],

Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr., his ex-wife, two former state judges and an attorney pleaded not guilty in US District Court in Jackson Monday to charges of extortion, bribery, fraud and racketeering brought under a second indictment for their alleged involvement in a judicial bribery scheme. Prosecutors say attorney Paul Minor provided cash, loans and gifts to Diaz and the other judges in return for favorable rulings. In December, a special state judicial tribunal suspended Justice Diaz with pay, pending resolution of the federal charges. AP has more

In Monday's regulations news, the Federal Communications Commission today proposed new rules for broadband service over power lines which it hopes will increase service to rural and underserved areas, since power lines already reach nearly every home in the country. Review the Notice of Proposed Rule Making [PDF] and an accompanying FCC news release [PDF].... Leading telecommunications and computer companies in the Voice Over Internet Coalition announced Monday an initiative to "resist the erection of regulatory barriers that could stall VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol]." The coalition includes AT&T, ITXC, Level 3 Communications, MCI, Texas Instruments and Microsoft. Read their press release here [PDF]. The FCC is currently in the process of drafting a policy on VoIP to ensure that the government will not lose billions of dollars in tax revenue, and to maintain call-tracing ability for 911 emergency service and police wiretaps. CNET has more.

US Department of Justice auditors released a report Monday finding that the US Marshals Service doesn't provide adequate medical care for federal prisoners and doesn't do enough to keep track of inmates suffering from communicable diseases such as AIDS or hepatitis. The Marshals Service says the problem is that there are too many prisoners and not enough staff to take care of them. Read the full report from the Justice Department here.[PDF]. AP has more.

British teachers called Monday for urgent talks on a new government plan to introduce random drug tests into England's schools. Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday in a newspaper interview that teachers will be given guidance on introducing random drug testing in British schools by next month. Opponents of the proposal argue that forcing pupils to take drug tests would be in breach of their rights to privacy in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Heads who want to introduce random drug testing will have to gain 'appropriate' consent from either the parents or the pupil. The move will not require a formal change in law. NASUWT, the leading British teachers' union, has a press release here. The BBC has more.

India's Supreme Court witnessed a bizarre spectacle on Monday with the Chief Justice complaining to prosecutors that he did not have the power to curb the corruption rampant in the country's lower judiciary. Chief Justice V.N. Khare, in response to a recent case which found a magistrate had been issuing arrest warrants for payments, said:

Give some powers to the Chief Justice. What powers does the Chief Justice of India have? Despite repeated requests, nothing has been done. How do I control the situation and how much can be done to control such situations by passing orders on the judicial side? You (the government) do not know with how much difficulty I secured the resignation of the two high court judges earlier.

The Times of India has more.

A Toronto nurse who contracted SARS last May while a patient in a North York hospital has sued the Canadian federal government, the province of Ontario and the city of Toronto for $600 million. Andrea Williams claims that she caught the disease, which she says left her with severe fatigue and memory loss, during a second initially-undetected wave of the illness that occured after Canadian health authorities declared the SARS outbreak over in April. SARS killed 44 Canadians in 2003, all in the Toronto area. Canadian Press has more.

In Monday's corporations and securities law news, the trial of Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and his two sons for conspiracy, securities fraud and bank fraud began today with jury selection in New York. Prosecutors accuse the group of stealing millions of dollars from what was once the nation's fifth largest cable company, forcing it into bankruptcy and bilking investors. AP has more.... AT&T Corp. has settled a lawsuit against MCI Inc. and Onvoy Inc. that alleged the companies worked together in the call-routing scheme, and also alleged fraud, civil conspiracy, unjust enrichment, racketeering conspiracy and substantive racketeering. Verizon Communications Inc. and SBC Communications Inc. also had made similar allegations against MCI. Read the AT&T press release announcing the settlement here. Dow Jones has more.... Two more class action lawsuits have been filed against FleetBoston Financial Corp. over illegal trading which caused financial injury to shareholders of its Columbia Funds family of mutual funds. The Business Review has more.... The judge in the ongoing Martha Stewart trial Monday declined to decide whether some of the charges against Stewart should be dropped. The judge may be willing to drop the securities fraud count against Stewart. Read the indictment against Stewart here[PDF]. AP has more.... Europe's sixth largest mobile phone company MMO2 rejected Dutch operator KPN's bid to takeover the company. However, traders now believe that the rejected offer of KPN could open the door for other rivals to attempt a takeover of MMO2. Read the KPN press release announcing the rejection of the deal here. BBC has more.... Two executives from Security Trust Co. (STC) and Paul Flynn, a managing director at Canadian Imperial Holdings Inc., a unit of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce pleaded not guilty to more than 100 counts filed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Read the complaint against Flynn here[PDF]. Read the complaint against the two STC executives here[PDF]. Reuters has more.... Intel Corp. has announced that the IRS is auditing the company's 2001 and 2002 tax returns. Reuters has more.

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UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday released a copy of a UN report concluding that although elections are not possible in Iraq at the moment, they can be organized eight months after the establishment of a legal framework for the process (by the end of 2004 or shortly thereafter if work on a constitutional structure were completed by May 2004, as presently envisaged). Read the full report here [PDF].

Amnesty International urgently called on Haitian rebels Monday to respect human rights and humanitarian law as they took control of Haiti's second-largest city and reached the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince:

A number of rebel leaders have abysmal human rights records, raising serious concern about levels of violence, as well as the humanitarian situation, in the areas under their control. As a matter of urgency, rebel forces must respect the rights of all Haitians as they expand their region of influence.

Read the full AI press release. Meanwhile, reflecting the deteriorating situation on the island, the US State Department has issued an updated travel warning for US citizens:

... it is unsafe to remain in Haiti in view of the deteriorating security situation. The Department of State has ordered the departure of all family members and non-emergency personnel of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, and continues to strongly urge American citizens remaining in Haiti to depart immediately while commercial carriers are still operating.

Some 50 US troops are being despatched to Haiti today to help guard US facilities. Read a US Southern Command press release [PDF].

Recorded video of this morning's International Court of Justice arguments by Palestinian representatives disputing the legality of Israel's security barrier is now online. This was the first legal argument ever webcast live by the world court. The ICJ offers versions for high-bandwidth (broadband) and low-bandwidth (modems). Windows Media Player required (that software is already on most computers running Microsoft Windows). NOTE: The posted video from the ICJ is "raw" - official proceedings begin at about the 12-minute mark, before which photographers are seen milling about taking photos of the lawyers and the bench. Live broadcasts from the court will continue when hearings in the case resume tomorrow.

The US Supreme Court granted certiorari Monday in two immigration cases that raise controversial deportation issues. In one, a Somalian is arguing against a US policy that allows immigrants to be returned to countries that have not agreed to take them back (the Solictor-General's brief against the certiorari petition is available here); in the other, a Haitian in the US legally for 20 years is arguing that a DUI conviction is not "criminal violence" constituting grounds for deportation (the Solictor General's brief against cert. in that case is available here). AP has more. Also this morning, the Court granted cert. in a third case on personal injury and the definition of a "vessal of navigation" under the maritime Jones Act (read the US First Circuit Court of Appeals opinion appealed from), and summarily reversed Illinois v. Fisher, a case about the destruction of evidence in a criminal case (read the Supreme Court opinion here).

Among certiorari petitions denied, the Court declined to take the case of an Algerian 9/11 detainee who challenged the secrecy of the proceeding against him, refused to hear Washington State's appeal to preserve its system of open "blanket primaries", and passed on a challenge to loosened federal rules for underground coal-mining operations in National Parks and designated wilderness lands. The Court's official Order List is here [PDF].

The International Court of Justice at The Hague is webcasting its hearings on the legality of Israel's security barrier Monday from 4 AM - 7 AM ET (10 AM - 1 PM at The Hague) and 9 AM - 12 Noon ET (3 PM - 6 PM at the Hague). This is the first live webcast in the history of the global tribunal. Access the video stream here. A full schedule of oral arguments is here - on Monday, Palestine is scheduled to argue in the morning, with South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh arguing in the afternoon. As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Israel is not appearing before the court. The Court offers these viewing tips:

To follow the webcasting of the Court's hearings in the best possible conditions, we recommend the use of a recent model of computer and an up-to-date version of the Windows Media Player software.

It is still possible that there may be temporary pauses in the live video coverage due to high traffic on the Court's website. We recommend in such cases that you try again later, either during the hearings or afterwards, when the same footage will be available via the archive link.

If you miss the live hearings (for example, because of website congestion or of the time difference with your country) you can always click on Video Archive. Here you can retrieve the completed webcast hearings which will be archived after every half-day session, like the written transcripts.

An ICJ press release with further information on the webcast is here. Reuters offers a quick rundown of basic facts about the ICJ here.

In Monday's civil rights news, the US House of Representatives will vote this week on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which would make it a federal crime to kill or injure a fetus. This would be the first time the federal government has recognized the rights of an unborn child. Opponents of the bill say passage would bring the nation one step closer to criminalizing abortion. The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), which supports the bill, said it conducted a poll that showed 80% of the public supports legislation that would treat the killing of a fetus as homicide. AP has more.The NRLC provides a backgrounder; NARAL Pro-Choice America has issued as action alert to oppose the legislation.... A new bill is being introduced in the Kentucky Legislature that would help to combat what the ACLU considers a restriction on free speech. Late last year the ACLU of Tennessee filed a lawsuit stemming from the legislature's denial of specialty license plates to a pro-choice abortion group, while granting specialty license plates to a pro-life group. The ACLU alleges the legislature restricts free speech when they vote to decide what organizations can be granted specialty plates, and which ones shouldn't be granted plates. The new legislation would establish minimum requirements organizations must meet before they will be issued specialty plates. AP has more. The ACLU of Tennessee provides background on the lawsuit.

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Conservatives in Iran won control of the country's parliament Monday by taking at least 149 seats in the 290-seat chamber after disputed elections. Pro-reform lawmakers had controlled the parliament since a landslide victory 4 years ago. This time, however, most reformers boycotted the process after the hard-line Guardian Council banned over 2,400 liberal candidates. The voter turnout is reported to have been just over 50% - the lowest in any election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Reformers are expected to take about 65 seats. Read the full text of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's speech praising the results here. Read more about the way Iran votes here. AP has more.

UK civil liberties groups Monday spoke out against legislation under ocnsideration by the Blair government that would require lawyers and other professionals to co-operate with investigations into organized crime by revealing confidential information at the risk of facing fines. The London Times (article here - registration required) says that the provision is among a number of sweeping powers being considered for the UK's new FBI-style Serious Organised Crime Agency. The UK Press Association has more.

In Monday's media and information law news, the editor of the Bangkok Post, an English language daily, has been removed from his position and shifted to another after the newspaper published stories critical of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the New York Times reports. Although part-owner of the paper Suthikiati Chirathivat attributed the move to "structural" changes at the paper, journalists at the Post demanded assurances of the paper's editorial independence from the government. The Nation, another English language daily, offered coverage of the events. The Thai Journalists Association has called for an explanation of the removal of Veera Prateepchaikul.... The International Federation of Journalists has urged coalition forces in Iraq to protect a journalist campaigning for women's rights who had received death threats. Yanar Mohammed heads the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq, which publishes the Al Nisa magazine and Equality in Iraq Web site.

The Palestinians' permanent observer to the United Nations opened the case against Israel's security barrier Monday at the International Court of Justice at The Hague by arguing that the barrier consitituted an illegal annexation of Palestinian territory which broke up Palestinian settlements on the West Bank into isolated, non-contiguous enclaves. He said he hoped that a favorable ruling by the court would open the way to international action similar to the sanctions against South Africa that followed the Court's 1971 opinion that that country's occupation of Namibia was illegal. From Israel, Haaretz has more on this morning's opening arguments. The ICJ offers background documentation on the case here. Israel's Foreign Ministry has released this statement on its website:

At the same time as Israel is burying eight victims of a suicide bombing yesterday by a member of Yasser Arafat's own Al Aqsa brigade, the Palestinians are using the United Nations Court to attack Israel for building a fence that could have saved their lives.

The Palestinian statements to the court today confirmed the concerns of many countries about the one-sided nature of the question before the court: it seeks to put Israel's measures to stop terrorism on trial, but not the terrorists themselves; it focuses only on Palestinian quality of life and not on the right of Israelis to life itself; and it stresses only Israeli responsibilities without a word about the responsibilities of the Palestinian side.

Meanwhile, New York-based monitoring group Human Rights Watch released a report Monday saying that the West Bank barrier violates international human rights and humanitarian law. Read the report and an accompanying press release.

Paul Bremer, head of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, said Monday that be believed that a draft interim Iraqi Constitution would be completed on schedule by February 28. The constitutional process has been complicated by disagreements with Shiites over national elections, problems with defining the place of Islamic law in the new charter, and demands by Kurdish groups for an autonomy provision that some Governing Council members have said will make meeting this Saturday's deadline impossible. Reuters has more.

St. Louis-based 321 Studios says it will appeal a Friday ruling by a federal judge in San Francisco ordering it to stop making and distributing software that allows copying of copy-protected DVDs. In issuing her injunction, Judge Susan Illston said that the software is illegal under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and its use infringes the rights of copyright holders such as the Hollywood studios represented by the Motion Picture Assocation of America. 321 Studios President Robert Moore said "There is no difference between making a copy of a music CD for personal use and making a backup of a DVD movie for personal use. We are so firm in our belief in the principle of fair use that we will appeal this ruling immediately." Read the full 321 Studios press release here. Judge Illston's opinion is here. The Washington Post has more.

In the wake of Friday's announcement by the United Nations that Canadian Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour will be leaving the court to become the next UN High Commissoner for Human Rights, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said over the weekend that a parliamentary committee would for the first time be given the opportunity to review his next Supreme Court appointment. The Calgary Sun has more. Martin offered no details, but the outlines of a public hearing process to replace the traditional informal and non-public one unilaterally controlled by the Prime Minister were set out by government MP Roger Galloway in a speech in late January, reported by the Toronto Globe & Mail. Fearing the politicization and personalization of the high court appointments process, Canada's sitting Supreme Court justices have spoken out publicly on several occasions against the prospect of broader, American-style public scrutiny, but Gallaway called upon them to "remember their proper roles, one of which is to avoid comment on political or parliamentary affairs." The Globe has more.

In Monday's US law and business press, the Recorder reports on a CA federal court ruling that a researcher claiming he co-invented the automatic DNA sequencer did not provide clear and convincing evidence that he invented the technology.... The New Jersey Law Journal reports that a NJ judge is allowing an ex-convict cleared by DNA testing to sue a public defender's office, alleging that for ten years it ignored his requests for DNA testing.... The Arkansas Business reports on a persistent debate over AR's "any willing provider" law.... The Dallas Business Journal reports that a Dallas County jury has awarded Nova Capital $11 million in a breach of contract suit against Finova Capital Corp.... FindLaw's Writ has Brooklyn law professor Anthony J. Sebok and Albany law professor Timothy D. Lytton's column on a new bill to protect the gun industry from lawsuits.

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W.E.B. DuBois, founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was born on February 23, 1868. Review the W.E.B. DuBois Papers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and released FBI files on DuBois kept because of his affiliation with "communist front groups."