In Thursday's federal courts roundup, the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a probation sentence given to a man convicted of burning a cross near the home of an interracial couple was too light. In overturning the sentence, the court rejected a lower court's rationale that Robert Nelson May had been provoked by an obscene gesture from one of the victims. AP has the full story. Read the opinion here [PDF].... Judge Samuel G. Wilson of the US District Court for the Western District of Virginia ruled that a convicted murderer should stay on death row, despite the fact that he suffers from a mental disorder that causes him to hear voices and see imaginary people in his prison cell. Wilson ruled that Percy Walton "understands that he is to be executed and that his execution is punishment for his conviction for murder" despite his mental illness. AP has the full story. See the opinion here [PDF].... AP reports that the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the nomination of Ray Gruender to the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The nomination next moves to the full US Senate for approval.... As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a last minute stay of execution for Yokamon Hearn, a Texas death-row inmate. Hearn's lawyers contend that the convicted murderer may be mentally retarded.

In Thursday's immigration law news, AP reports that the Bush administration is prepared to drop photographing and fingerprinting requirements for some Mexicans who frequently cross the border for brief visits to the US (ssee also the story previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase). Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson stated that the plan "probably will be necessary" after testifying before the House Committee on Government Reform. During the same hearing, Airports Council International - North America President, David Plavin, testified that while his organization supports the goals of US-VISIT, it also has reservations. He testified that, "it would be hugely detrimental to passengers, airports, airlines and local and national economies if US-VISIT became an ironic term rather than an effective entry/exit program that welcomes foreign visitors, the vast majority of whom pose no threat to the United States."

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Here's Thursday's legal news from the US Department of Justice. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division has intervened in a four-year old lawsuit filed by the ACLU against the Boy Scouts of America by filing a request to enter the case as amicus curiae and will file a brief in support of the Boy Scouts' motion for summary judgment. The suit was filed by six San Diego residents attempting to prevent the Boy Scouts from using a local facility. The DOJ has a related press release and you can read the amicus brief [PDF] here.... The Department of Justice has charged Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a graduate student from Saudi Arabia, with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism by helping with websites that urge people to contribute money to Hamas. According to AP, Al-Hussayen had already been in jail on charges of student visa fraud and making false statements to obtain a visa. He is to stand trial on April 13 and faces up to 15 years in prison. Read Attorney General John Ashcroft's statement regarding the indictment against Al-Hussayen.... Solicitor General Theodore Olson continued his fight to prevent Guantanamo detainees from access to the US courts by issuing a final brief before the US Supreme Court hears the case next month. Olson wrote that allowing access "not only would be very damaging to the military's ability to win the war, but (would) no doubt be highly comforting to the enemies of the United States". The Kansas City Star has more.

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In Thursday's criminal law and punishment news, AP reports that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a last minute reprieve to Yokamon Hearn, a Texas death-row inmate. The court did so in response to Hearn's claims of mental retardation. In 2002, the United States Supreme Court held in Atkins v. Virginia [PDF] that executing the mentally retarded violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.... Also from AP, the Oregon Supreme Court has vacated the death sentence of Randy Guzek for the third time. Guzek will receive a new sentencing hearing because the judge presiding over his most recent penalty proceeding did not instruct the jury that it could impose a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Read today's opinion here.... Lastly, Texas executed a death-row inmate on Wednesday evening. A per state breakdown of executions in 2004 can be found here. AP has more.

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In environmental law news for Thursday, the Interior Department has relaxed oil and gas restrictions in the Otero Mesa region of New Mexico, which allegedly benefits a large Republican donor in the state. The donor, George Yates, denies that his contributions or fund-raising assistance to Vice President Dick Cheney was a determinative factor in the decision to open the lands to drilling interests. The plan would allow 141 oil and gas wells over about 7 million acres and has drawn sharp criticism from environmental groups such as the Campaign to Protect America's Lands who have pointed out that Yates Petroleum is the number one GOP contributor in New Mexico and that Steven Griles, the No. 2 official at the Interior Department, once lobbied for Yates. AP has more.... In other news, AP reports that the DC Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) will be investigated concerning the way it has handled lead contamination in water supplies in the Washington DC metro area. In response to the contamination. Several thousand water filters have been issued to local residents and schools. It has been reported that the amount of lead in some homes may be so high that residents may be able to taste it in the water... Finally, a federal judge has temporarily ended public debate over efforts to clean up the Florida Everglades by setting up a procedure for expert review of federal and state restoration work. US District Judge Federico Moreno concluded that current procedures calling for phosphorous limitations may be impossbile to meet by 2006. Now restoration efforts will be managed by a special master with broad authority to monitor compliance. The decision brings to an end a two-year series of court hearings at which attorneys bickered about compliance. Again, AP has more.

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Today's New York Times reports that Stephen Curtis, a former senior partner of the UK law firm Curtis & Co. who represented the business interests of Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the Russian oil tycoon who is currently jailed charged with fraud and embezzlement in the privatization of a fertilizer company in 1994 amid rumors of political dissention with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, died yesterday in a helicopter crash. Curtis, 43, was a director of Menatep Group, the holding company for his Khodorkovsky's $15 billion empire. The Moscow Times has more.... Also today, arkansasbusiness.com reports that Bill Clark, founder of the firm Friday Eldredge and Clark, the largest in Arkansas, and author of the textbook "Developing Labor Law" passed away yesterday at the age of 81.

In international law news Thursday, a tax treaty between the US and Japan has been unanimously approved by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee ahead of a March 31 deadline faced by both countries for reducing rates for companies with cross-border operations. A spokesperson for the committee has said that the full Senate will vote on the treaty's final ratification as early as next week. Bloomberg has more. The Senate committee held hearings last month on the Japanese Tax Treaty. The US Department of the Treasury offers this technical explanation [PDF] of the tax treaty.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the UN Security Council today considered a proposal to revitalize the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC). Read summaries of statements made during today's Security Council meeting. The CTC chairman recommended that the committee's present procedures and structures be reconsidered, particularly since the committee has assumed a proactive role in evaluating the implementation of Resolution 1373 [PDF], which calls on member states to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorism and to take other measures to prevent terrorist acts. The UN News Service has more.... South Africa has called for a UN investigation into the circumstances surrounding President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's departure from Haiti, saying that it would be a serious breach of international law if it was proved that he had been forced to quit. AFP has more.

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Leading Thursday's law school news is a report on recent research by professors at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law indicating that race and gender significantly affect students' law school experiences. Professors Nancy Dowd and Kenneth Nunn surveyed students at their home law school and recently published their findings in an article [PDF] for the University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy. According to the title of the article, "Diversity Matters," but there persists an "inequality in educational experience of minorities and women in legal education." Results of the Florida study echo in part those of a Harvard study, reported earlier for Paper Chase, that indicate persistent gender disparities in classroom experiences.

In other law school news, the LA Times reports today that Professors Erwin Chemerinsky and Catherine Fisk, spouses as well as colleagues at the University of Southern California Law School, are leaving USC to take faculty positions at the Duke University School of Law. Duke Dean Katharine Bartlett praises Chemerinsky as "a first-rate constitutional law scholar" and "highly visible public intellectual," and Fink as "an emerging leader in ... employment law." The Times has more on the scholars and their move here.

Elsewhere, the Connecticut Law Tribune reports that students at the University of Connecticut School of Law are protesting proposed changes to first-year research and writing courses that could replace devoted writing instructors with professors from the "doctrinal faculty" who teach other courses. In a letter to the faculty, the school's Student Bar Association argues that the current division of responsibilities benefits both faculty and students, and a change could give doctrinal faculty members too great a responsibility over first-year grades. Read the Tribune's full report on the matter here.

Finally, still more from the moot court front. Teams from the George Mason University School of Law swept first and second places in the 2004 National Security Law Moot Court Competition held last weekend. George Mason has more here. Meanwhile, a team from the Capital University Law School took home first place in the Mardi Gras Invitational National Sports Law Competition held earlier in February, for the school's second win in the past three tournaments. Capital has the full story here. Paper Chase promises continued coverage from this front, as several major moot court competitions are still ongoing.

A Senate report to be released Thursday evening on how memos about judicial nominees written by Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee ended up in possession of Republicans suggests two former GOP staffers were chiefly to blame but also points up security problems with how the memos were stored on computers in the first place, according to anonymous sources quoted by AP. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle led an investigation of how some 4,670 documents were taken from a shared Judiciary Committee server. The version of the report to be made public will be redacted and will not reveal the names of the staffers suspected. After the leaks the Democratic memos were posted to the Web by the conservative Coalition for a Fair Judiciary and are available here. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch has said that some of his own electronic materials were improperly sent outside the Senate as well. AP has more.

UPDATE: Senator Patrick Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, has issued a statement on the report, calling for a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice. Read that statement here.

Mexicans making short visits to the US will not be required to undergo fingerprinting and photographing before entering the country according to an announcement Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson was scheduled to make Thursday afternoon in testimony before a Congressional committee. The decision carves out a significant exception to the new US-VISIT program which required visa-holders to go through the procedure as a security precaution before crossing the border. It is seen by observers as a gesture towards Mexican President Vincente Fox, who has been displeased with the fact that Mexicans were to be subject to the requirement while Canadians were not.

Milos Alcalay, Venezuela's UN envoy, resigned her position Thursday saysing that the government of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez failing to protect human rights and follow democratic principles. Her resignation comes on the heels of a ruling Tuesday by Venezuela's National Electoral Council - previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase - that the opposition to Chavez had failed to gather enough valid signatures to force a recall vote on the President.

NATO peacekeepers of the Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) have arrested General Bogdan Subotic, a former aide to leading war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian-Serb leader wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Karadzic is accused of conspiring with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Miloseciv to incite the Bosnian war in 1992-95, and has been a fugitive since his indictment for genocide was issued in 1995. SFOR's website has a press release. It is hoped that Subotic may be able to provide information on Karadzic's whereabouts. AP has more.

In Thurday's family law news, a family court judge in Hawaii has ruled that the state's grandparent visitation law is unconstitutional. The Hawaii law at issue allowed grandparents to petition the court for visitation rights and the court may award them if it is found to be in the best interests of the child. Judge William S. Chillingworth based his ruling on a US Supreme Court case which held a similar Washington state visitation law unconstitutional because it did not give consideration to the parents' rights to decide what is best for their children. The Honolulu Advertiser has more.

A federal appeals court has ruled that General Electric can legally challenge an EPA order to clean up a toxic waste site, thereby opening up the possibility of additional challenges by other corporations that might imperil the federal Superfund cleanup program. GE had been directed to do a $500 million cleanup of PCBs in the Hudson River; in its ruling Wednesday the court authorized the challenge despite EPA arguments that this would delay the cleanup process. Read the opinion here [PDF]. AP has more.

In its first ruling in decades on the nature of copyrightable material, the Canadian Supreme Court held Thursday that although legal decisions - including headnotes and summaries - are technically subject to copyright under Canadian law, the photocopying of them by lawyers and researchers falls within the bounds of "fair dealing" and is not infringement. Canadian legal publishing companies had sought to recover fees from the Ontario bar association (the Law Society of Upper Canada) which had allowed photocopying of cases held in its Toronto library. Read the opinion here. CBC News has more.

In Thursday's corporations and securities law news, Michael Dell, Dell Inc. founder and chief executive, will give up some control of the company when he hands over the chief executive title to President Kevin Rollins in July. Read the Dell press release announcing the move here. Bloomberg.com has more.... In a potential blow to Microsoft, EU regulators may force the company to disclose information to competitors and give computer makers the option to dispense with Windows Media Player. EU regulators are accusing Microsoft of using Windows, which runs on about 95% of PCs, to control new markets in operating systems. Bloomberg.com has more.... After a brief delay in jury deliberations in the Martha Stewart trial due to a subway accident, the jurors asked to hear the testimony of a SEC attorney who interviewed Stewart's broker in 2002. Read the indictment against Stewart here. AP has more.... Knight Trading Group Inc., one of the top traders of Nasdaq stocks, announced it has received a Wells Notice from securities regulators which may lead to civil actions against one of Knight's units and its former chief executive. Read Knight Trading Group's press release here. Reuters has more.... A federal magistrate judge rejected fired HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy's bid for a hearing on whether prosecutors made improper secret recordings of him discussing finances at the company with a subordinate. AP has more.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Disney has removed the title of chairman from the title of Michael Eisner while keeping him as chief executive after a 43% no-confidence vote at the company's annual shareholder's meeting. George Mitchell was voted the new chairman. Read the Disney press release here. AFP has more.... FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin announced that the commission will appeal a court decision that struck down rules that would have required dominant local telephone companies to share their networks with rivals at cut-rate prices. Reuters has more.

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A Muslim US Army sergeant accused of killing two other US Army officers of the 101st Airborne Division in a grenade attack two years ago inside the Army base at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait has been slated for court martial this summer. Sergeant Hasan Akbar faces multiple charges of premeditated murder and attempting premeditated murder under Article 118 and Article 80 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Army says this is the first occasion since Vietnam that a US Army soldier has been prosecuted for the murder or attempted murder of another during wartime. Read the Army News Service story. AP has more.

In Thursday's civil rights news, a flight engineer for domestic airline carrier ATA is claiming he did not receive a promotion to co-pilot because of his Middle Eastern heritage. Ziad Elwazan is suing to overturn a decision that bars him from ever seeking a promotion again. Elwazan believes he is being discriminated against by his employer because he is Lebanese, and the post-9/11 atmosphere is partly to blame for his employer's actions. The Indianapolis Star has more.... The US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has declared a voting district in New Mexico unconstitutional because it divides an Indian reservation, thereby diluting the voting power of Native Americans in the state. The Alamo Reservation in Socorro County, NM will no longer be divided into two voting districts. The Native Times has more.

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The French Senate approved the French government's proposed ban on religious clothing and symbols in public schools Wednesday night, leaving only the formality of President Jacque Chirac's signature before the controversial law takes effect in September. The Senate dossier on the law, put forward as a measure to protect the separation of church and state but opposed by many Muslims as discriminatory, is available here (in French). Bloomberg has more.

Just ahead of a meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission at which the US may introduce a resolution critical of China's human rights record, Chinese authorities have released top dissident and human rights activist Wang Youcai. Exiled to the US on "medical parole" after serving four years of a thirteen year sentence for subversion (read this Amnesty International report), Wang will arrive in the US for medical treatment later today. Additional information and a timeline is available on the Free Wang Youcai website. AFP has more

Activists opposed to controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (see a BBC profile) say that they will appeal a ruling of the Venezuelan National Electoral Council against holding a referendum on the President. As previously reported in JURIST's Paper Chase, the Council ruled on Tuesday that the number of valid signatures gathered by the opposition fell short of what was required by law. After the ruling was announced, rioting in the capital Caracas and in other major centers took the lives of three people and injured 900 more. The appeal is likely to be made directly to the Venezuelan Supreme Court. The Miami Herald has more.

The German Supreme Court [Bundesgerichtshof] Thursday threw out the conviction of Mounir el Motassadeq, a 29-year old Moraccon convicted last year of being an accessory to the murders of the more than 3000 people killed in the World Trade Center attacks, and of being a member of a terrorist organization. Motassadeq was the only person anywhere who had so far been convicted in connection with the attacks. Lawyers for Motassadeq had argued that new evidence which had helped acquit another Moroccan man last month on similar charges threw Motassadeq's conviction into doubt. The presiding judge agreed, saying that the rights of the accused had to be protected even in the midst of a war on terror. A retrial has been ordered. VOA has more in English; the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung carries this report in German.

The much-anticipated papers of US Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, best known as the architect of the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, were released to the public this morning at the Library of Congress, 5 years after his death (as he requested). Read the Library of Congress media advisory. Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times offers preliminary analysis, and a glimpse of Justice Blackmun's dealings with current Supreme Court justices. The approximately 1500 boxes of papers contain letters, memos, and other materials chronicling Justice Blackmun's life and career, and especially his service at the high court. Some 38 hours of oral history tapes recorded by Justice Blackmun are also being released. The Library of Congress has set ip a special Harry A. Blackmun Papers website featuring a comprehensive finding aid. The actual documentary contents of the Papers are notably not available online - selected materials have been digitized and made available at appointed computer workstations within the Library only. National Public Radio has, however, posted excerpts from Blackmun's oral history tapes - watch an 11-minute clip of Blackmun discussing Roe v. Wade. C-SPAN will be broadcasting portions of the Blackmun tapes on television Friday evening at 8 PM ET. After Blackmun's passing in 1999, JURIST published personal reminiscences of Justice Blackmun by several of his law clerks.

UPDATE: Since our initial post, the LOC has added to its Harry A. Blackmun Papers website a page of 6 digitized images of documentary highlights, including materials from Roe v. Wade, Bowers v. Hardwick, and the Bakke affirmative action case.

California's Mendocino County has become the first US jurisdiction to ban the growing of genetically modified crops. County residents voted earlier this week to approve Measure H, which was strongly opposed by the biotechnology industry (visit the Yes on H website). The county is well-known for its vineyards, but the ban is deemed to be largely symbolic as no GM crops are known to be grown in the area. Bloomberg has more.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he will enforce New York state marriage law and will decline to issue marriage licenses to gay couples despite City Hall protests scheduled for Thursday morning. The NYMarriageNOW website carries protest details. Bloomberg's comments came after New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer issued a legal opinion Wednesday - reported on JURIST's Paper Chase - indicating that same-sex marriages were illegal in New York, although the state would recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. AP has more.

UPDATE: AP reports that same-sex couples lining up for marriage licenses at the office of the New York City Clerk this morning were turned away with a letter explaining that same-sex marriages were illegal in the New York state.

Jose Padilla, the "dirty bomb" suspect designated as an "enemy combatant" whose case against indefinite detention is slated to come before the US Supreme Court next month, was allowed to meet with his attorney yesterday at the naval brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Pentagon authorities emphasized that the meeting was at their discretion and was "subject to appropriate security restrictions", which included having Padilla and the attorney converse through a glass window while government officials monitored and videotaped the conversation. Court-appointed attorney Donna Newman (see a 2002 profile from TIME magazine), who last met with Padilla after his arrest in May 2002, said afterwards "...this was not an attorney-client meeting. This was invitation-only, and we were not allowed to ask about the conditions of his confinement." The Washington Post has more.

In Thursday's US law and business press, the Miami Daily Business Review reports that a Jehovah's Witness who allegedly refused a blood transfusion at a FL hospital on religious grounds is suing the hospital.... The ABA Journal reports on the plight of non-English-speaking immigrant children who arrive in the US and face the challenges of its legal system.... The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that Acuity Brands Inc. has settled the patent infringement suit it filed against Cooper Industries and Cooper Lighting.... The Legal Intelligencer reports on a Philadelphia judge's refusal to approve a $4.5 million settlement in a legal malpractice suit alleging that lawyers failed to keep public pension funds in three states from losing money.... FindLaw's Writ features attorney/author Edward Lazarus's commentary on same-sex marriage and Bowers v. Hardwick, as well as TN attorney David Hudson's guest column on silencing student speech and artwork.

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Here are some of the legal stories running in Thursday's foreign press... The International Herald Tribune covers the trial of Finland's former Prime Minister. She is charged with illegally obtaining secret documents about the incumbent Prime Minister that helped her win last year's election.... Australia's Sydney Morning Herald features calls to amend the patent law. The Australian Law Reform Commission is concerned that issuing genetic patents will hinder the progress of genetic research.

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On March 4, 1909, the Copyright Act of 1909 became law, making infringement of a copyright a federal crime for the first time. Review a brief history of copyright in the United States.