In Friday's federal courts roundup, Judge Stephen Reasoner of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas has ruled that the owner of an Arkansas oil field waste dump must pay for a $20 million Superfund cleanup. AP reports that the Gurley Pit Site, owned by William M. Gurley, has been the subject of the fight over cleanup costs for the past 17 years.... The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a former Carson City, NV sheriff's deputy was not paid enough for off duty time spent training her police dog. Paula Leever said that she had to spend up to 28 hours a week working with the dog in addition to her normal shifts, but was not paid appropriate overtime. AP has the full story. See the opinion here [PDF].... As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, a federal jury Friday afternoon found Martha Stewart guilty of conspiracy, making false statements, and obstruction of justice. Sentencing is scheduled for June 17.

In a report delivered today to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Libya has declared that it had produced 44,000 pounds of mustard gas. According to CNN, the move follows President Bush's decision to lift travel restrictions to that country earlier this week. The OPCW has a press release here. Today's New York Times notes that the stockpile was part of a secret chemical weapons program dating back to the 1980's. With today's action, the country meets its deadline to turn over documents under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which the country joined one month ago.

Leading Friday's law school news, the Legal Intelligencer reports that post-9/11 changes in US immigration policy have caused a decline in the number of foreign applicants, and thus foreign matriculants, to many US law schools. The changes include a new requirement of FBI security approval for all student visa applications, regardless of their country of origin. Dean Robert Reinstein of Temple University's James E. Beasley School of Law decries the changes, arguing that the first-hand experiences of foreign LLM students who return to their home countries "produces tremendous good will for America." Read the Intelligencer's full story here.

In other law school news, Yale Law School reports that Professor Lea Brilmayer testified Wednesday before a Senate Subcommittee hearing on same-sex marriage, called "Judicial Activism vs. Democracy: What Are the National Implications of the Massachusetts Goodridge Decision and the Judicial Invalidation of Traditional Marriage Laws?" In Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Supreme Court held that the denial of marriage benefits to same-sex couples violates the state constitution. And although the court affirmed its deference to the legislature on social issues and stayed its judgment to permit remedial legislative action, the court has nevertheless been charged by many opponents with unlawful judicial activism. Professor Brilmayer confined her testimony, available from Yale here [PDF], to the decision's choice-of-law ramifications. She concluded that under the Full Faith and Credit Clause and its jurisprudence, there is no need for a constitutional amendment to define marriage.

Lastly Friday, a second item concerning the Bay State's courts. Harvard Law School's Record reports that trial has begun in the Cambridge District Court in a case initiated as a simple eviction action by two third-year students. Student-attorneys in Harvard's Legal Aid Bureau rarely see thier cases reach jury trials, but state law permits them to continue their advocacy in court so long as supervised by a licensed attorney. Student Susan Rohol raves about the "true ownership of the case" that the system has afforded her. Read the Record's full story here.

The Virginia Supreme Court today issued a unanimous decision striking down language in that state's cross burning law that equates the act of burning a cross with constitutionally impermissible intimidation. The opinion followed a remand on that question from the US Supreme Court, which otherwise upheld the state ban last April. In the case, the court affirmed convictions of two men who had burned a cross in the lawn of a mixed-race couple. AP has more.

AP is reporting that the Iraqi Governing Council will not sign Iraq's new interim constitution on Friday, according to a coalition spokesman. A new signing date has not been set. As late as this afternoon Iraqi officials hoped that the signing might still take place today after Shiite Council members balked at the wording of the document at the last minute, as previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase

UPDATE: For more, see this late AP report, and this story appearing in tomorrow's New York Times.

WNBC-TV in New York City is reporting that a New York state judge has barred New Paltz Mayor Jason West from performing any more same-sex marriages for a month. State Supreme Court Justice Vincent Bradley granted a temporary restraining order at the request of Florida conservative group Liberty Counsel, saying that "The mayor in substance ignores the oath of office that he took to uphold the law." WNBC has more. The ruling comes after Mayor Jason West voluntarily agreed to postpone marriages scheduled for this weekend, as previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase.

As anticipated on JURIST's Paper Chase, the Senate Judiciary Committee has now posted a report into the unauthorized use of its computer system, finding two members of Republican Senator Orrin Hatch's staff were to blame. According to the document, released in two parts here and here, 4,670 unauthorized files were found on a computer belonging to one of the staffers. Most of the files were Democratic strategy documents. While the Committee had intended to release a redacted version of the report without the staff members' names, the unedited report apparently was instead given to reporters, identifying Manuel Miranda and Jason Lundell as the accused parties. AP today reports that Democrats are calling for outside investigation into the alleged document theft.

A New York state Supreme Court Friday threw out the most serious charge - enterprise corruption - brought by prosecutors against two former Tyco International executives in connection with the looting of over $600 million from the company through fraudulent stock sales and embezzlement of loans and bonuses. Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski and former CFO Mark Swartz still face charges of grand larceny, falsifying business records and violating state business laws. AP has more.

Martha Stewart has released a statement on her defense website about this afternoon's guilty verdict:

I am obviously distressed by the jury’s verdict but I continue to take comfort in knowing that I have done nothing wrong and that I have the enduring support of my family and friends.

I will appeal the verdict and continue to fight to clear my name. I believe in the fairness of the judicial system and remain confident that I will ultimately prevail.

The full statement on Marthatalks.com is here.

UPDATE: Some time after this post, the statement carried by Martha Stewart's website was altered to remove the phrase "I have done nothing wrong". The relevant sentence now reads: "I am obviously distressed by the jury's verdict but I continue to take comfort in knowing that I have the confidence and enduring support of my family and friends."

In international law news Friday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, defending Britain's decision to go to war in Iraq, has suggested that international law may need to be changed in order to allow pre-emptive military strikes. In a speech Friday, Blair said "it may well be that under international law as presently constituted, a regime can systematically brutalize and oppress its people and there is nothing anyone can do, when dialogue, diplomacy and even sanctions fail" and questioned whether this is an appropriate state of the law. Blair also called for reform of the UN so that it could stand up to the terror threat, saying that Britain's agenda includes "reforming the United Nations so its Security Council represents 21st century reality and giving the UN the capability to act effectively as well as debate." Read the full text of Blair's speech. Reuters has the full story. As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Hans Blix, the former UN arms inspector in Iraq today said that he believed the 2003 Iraq war was illegal under international law.... The committee monitoring the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families concluded its first meeting by urging more countries to ratify the treaty. Currently only 25 countries have ratified the convention, which leaves many migrant workers around the world without the protection of the binding standards related to the treatment and human rights of migrant workers provided for in the treaty. The committee's press release is here. The UN News Service has more.... The out-going UN legal counsel, Hans Corell, has called for more attention to be paid to the state of the world's environment while noting the success of international conventions, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which have been enacted during his tenure at the UN. Read a summary of Corell's press briefing and more from the UN News Service.... Lawyers acting on behalf of Slobodan Milosevic have made a motion [PDF] asking the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to acquit him on charges of genocide. See this previous report on JURIST's Paper Chase for more.

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Martha Stewart has been found guilty on all 4 counts against her of conspiracy, making false statements (2 counts) and obstruction of justice. Her broker Peter Bacanovic has been found guilty of conspiracy, making false statements, perjury, and obstruction of justice. He was found not guilty of falsifying documents. With these convictions, Stewart could be sentencied to up to 20 years in prison, and Bacanovic 25, but under federal sentencing guidelines the sentences could be much less, even down to a period of house arrest. Sentencing has been scheduled for June 17. WNBC-TV in New York City is providing live coverage of the verdict's aftermath.

AP is reporting that a verdict has been reached in the Martha Stewart stock trading trial, but it has not yet been announced by the jury. Watch live video coverage from WNBC-TV in New York City.

In environmental law news for Friday, following up on a story that I reported on in yesterday's Paper Chase, The Washington Post reports that problems with lead contamination in Washington DC's water supply is a result of weaknesses in the federal testing scheme carried out by the EPA. The most prevalent concerns with EPA testing revolves around the information relied on from samples taken when a faucet is opened and the assumption that lead is found predominantly in older homes. The DC Water and Sewage Authority (WASA), however, maintains that some of the highest levels of contamination come from samples taken after the faucet had run for more than a minute and that high concentrations of lead have been found in newer homes that do not even have lead service lines. Related to these ongoing events, AP reports that WASA has come under fire at a congressional hearing today involving its ineffectiveness in notifying the general public of the magnitude of the contamination. In response, the EPA has ordered WASA to test all of its lead service lines and provide faster notification to customers of the results of water testing... In other news, AP reports that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has issued letters to attorneys general from Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan and Pennsylvania asking them to cut back on pollution that has crossed state borders into North Carolina. The letters indicated that North Carolina is preparing petitions to the EPA, asking it to force emissions limits on states who create pollution that travels east.

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Lawyers acting on behalf of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic asked the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague Friday to acquit him on charges of genocide. The lawyers, technically functioning as amici because Milosevic has insisted on representing himself, made the motion for acquittal in the wake of the prosecution's completion late last month of its lengthy case on the 66 genocide and war crimes charges against him. A motion of this sort is not procedurally unusual, but the tribunal's judges will have to rule on it before the defense case begins. Read the motion for acquittal [PDF]. Reuters has more.

KGW in Portland, Oregon is now reporting that ministers and conservative lawmakers calling themselves the Defense of Marriage Coalition have just filed a lawsuit to block same-sex marriages in Portland's Multnomah County, which began issuing licenses to same-sex couples on Wednesday. KGW has more.

In related developments elsewhere around the country, the Kansas City Star and AP are reporting that the Kansas House voted today 88-36 for a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages and marriage benefits for same-sex couples in other relationships. Lawyers for the city of San Francisco meanwhile are filing briefs today with the California Supreme Court asking them to put off their own consideration of the gay marriage issue and allow it to go to trial in a lower court, permitting San Francisco's same-sex marriages to continue in the meantime. AP has more.

On a day where gay marriage amendments and lawsuits are flying faster than we can keep up with them, KVTB-TV in Boise and AP are reporting that the Idaho Senate has unexpectedly killed a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage that had passed the House last month 53-17. A Republican who voted with Democrats to turn down the measure said he did not consider traditional marriage to be in danger in the state; another Republican earlier in the week had suggested that the President's support of a federal constitutional amendment made the state proposal moot. AP has more

A lawsuit filed Thursday by a Pittsburgh area resident alleges that the National Football League unfairly coerced Pittsburgh and other cities with NFL franchises into building new stadiums at a cost of over $3 billion. Robert Warnock is seeking $200 million in punitive damages from the league and its 32 member teams, and triple that amount if antitrust violations can be proven. Close to financial collapse, the city of Pittsburgh was placed under the protection of Pennsylvania state law for "distressed municipalities" in December 2003. A Cincinnati taypayer brought a similar suit against the NFL earlier this year; in February US District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel rejected an argument that the plaintiff in that case lacked standing. The League of Fans, a Ralph Nader group, offers this breakdown of the costs associated with building NFL stadiums since 1990 - it reports the cost of Pittsburgh's 2001 Heinz Field at $244 million, of which $177 million (72.5%) came from public funds. AP has more.

Ira Kurzban, a Miami lawyer representing deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has insisted in the face of vigorous US denials that Aristide was kidnapped and taken out of Haiti by the US against his will last weekend in an unconstitutional process. VOA has more. The transcript of a radio interview Kurzban gave on March 2 is here. Aristide's Prime Minister, Yvon Neptune, meanwhile told the Miami Herald yesterday from Port-au-Prince that any selection of new leaders for Haiti - now apparently already underway - should be delayed until there could be an investigation as to whether the President left office in accordance with the constitution. The Miami Herald has more.

UPDATE: Aristide has accused France of colluding with the US to remove him from office, and said again in an interview with a French journalist that the letter he signed before leaving the country was not a formal resignation letter. There has been some dispute over the letter's translation according to an article in today's Washington Times. AP provides an English translation from the original Creole done by Albert Valdman, a linguistics professor and specialist in Haitian Creole at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, which differs from the version provided by the US Embassy in Haiti and is less clear on the resignation point. BBC News has more

Friday's last-minute delay over the signing of the interim Iraqi constitution - reported this morning on JURIST's Paper Chase - was the result of disagreements over "technicalities" which would be resolved in time for a signing ceremony later today, according to an Iraqi Governing Council spokeman quoted by Bloomberg:

Iraqi Governing Council spokesman Hamid Alkifaey said a redrafting of the constitution ``in a legal way'' had resulted in language that some members had asked to be changed. He declined to elaborate. Alkifaey denied a report by the Associated Press that the signing was delayed indefinitely after five Shiite Muslims on the 25-member council complained about parts of the document. "This is a slight delay; there are some technical hitches,'' Alkifaey said in a telephone interview from the capital, Baghdad. "But the law will be signed today.''

Read the full story.

Jason West, the mayor of New Paltz New York who earlier this week was charged with 19 counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license, said Friday he would delay for a week a further round of same-sex marriages he had scheduled for this coming weekend. He said he intended the postponement so he could consult with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who on Wednesday said that same-sex marriages were illegal in New York, but who indicated that the matter might be open to constitutional challenge. Meanwhile the Village of New Paltz is still accepting same-sex marriage applications on its online waiting list. AP has more. The ACLU and the New York Civil Liberties Union have meantime asked to be joined in a civil lawsuit against West filed by the Florida conservative group Liberty Counsel, according to a press release posted within the hour.

In other same-sex marriage news from New York state, the gay advocacy group Lamba Legal took the action Spitzer contemplated by filing a suit in Manhattan today seeking full marriage rights for gay couples under New York law. Lambda Legal offers extensive information on the action, including the complaint and an accompanying news release

UPDATE: New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has issued a statement welcoming New Paltz mayor West's postponement of this weekend's same sex marriages. It reads in part:

Mayor West believes strongly in this issue, and is committed to continuing his support for same sex marriages. At the same time, Mayor West understands his duties as a public official, and that those who are elected to office have a responsibility to demonstrate, through words and actions, a commitment to upholding the law.

My staff has been in discussions with the attorneys for Mayor West in an effort to resolve this matter, and those discussions will be continuing next week. In the interim, Mayor West has agreed not to perform any same sex wedding ceremonies while these discussions are ongoing, and we have jointly asked the Court for a one-week adjournment of the injunction motion that was filed by a private party on Wednesday. Hopefully we will be able to reach a solution that is acceptable to all involved.

Read the full press release here.

A new report issued by the Washington DC-based Justice Policy Institute on the eve of the tenth anniversary of California's three-strikes law says that the controversial legislation has had little effect on violent crime over its ten-year history, but has significantly raised prison costs as a growing number of felons have been incarcerated for non-violent offences. It has also led to the incarceration of blacks at 10 times the rate of whites, and the imprisonment of Hispanics at almost 180% of the white rate. Read an executive summary of the report, or access the full-text here [PDF]. Friday's Los Angeles Times has more.

As the jury in the Martha Stewart stock trading case deliberated for a third day Friday, Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum ruled that the evidence of Stewart assistant Ann Armstrong in conjunction with a telephone message log she kept would meet the high standards of evidence required to convict a defendant of perjury. Peter Bacanovic, Stewart's stockbreaker, has been accused of lying to investigators about a message he left for Stewart in which he sais, according to phone logs, that he thought "ImClone is going to start trading downward." The judge's finding does not guarantee that the jury will convict on perjury, as intent to give false testimony must still exist, and only a single witness claim is involved. AP has more.

The Wisconsin State Assembly voted Friday morning in favor of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in the state. The vote on the measure, which now goes to the state Senate, was 68-27. Wisconsin law already recognizes marriage as a union between a man and woman, but supporters of the amendment said that mere legislative protection of marriage did not go far enough. To take effect the amendment must be approved by both houses of the Wisconsin legislature in consecutive sessions and then pass in a referendum, which could be held as early as April 2005. The Wisconsin amendment is deemed by observers to be significant as the state is generally seen as relatively liberal. The full text of AJR 66 is here [PDF] (thanks to Heidi Yelk of the Wisconsin State Law Library for the pointer). AP has more, with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel providing local coverage from Madison (thanks to Liz Shelton, Reference Librarian at Foley & Lardner in Milwaukee for the pointer).

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who is also the presiding judge in the US government's case against Zacarias Moussaoui, convicted three US Muslims on terror-related conspiracy charges Thursday, agreeing with prosecutors that the three had conducted paintball practices in the Virginia woods as part of training for holy war against the United States, and, after September 11, to assist the Taliban. The convictions carry possible life sentences, although those have not yet been formally set. The memorandum opinion and the individual judgments are now available online here. AP has more.

In Friday's media and information law news, the California Judicial Council has approved a rule to allow the publication of documents from high-profile criminal cases online. The decision, which only affects cases drawing substantial media attention, is viewed by some as a response to high-profile cases involving Scott Peterson and Michael Jackson, which have seen the courts overwhelmed with media requests. The ruling only applies to documents already publicly available at courthouses. In a news release, the Judicial Council called it an "effort to balance privacy concerns and public access." The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has more.... In Ohio, the Muskingum County Board of Elections has banned news media from voting precincts after a voter complained that a picture of his filled-in ballot was shown by a local television station on-air and on the Internet, RCFP reports. WHIZ-TV, a Zanesville station, filmed the ballot, and the markings on it were clear, according to a local paper. A law prohibiting news media from reporting inside voting precincts was already on the books, but it had not been enforced previously.

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China's annual meeting of its National People's Congress got under way Friday with the body slated to consider, and expected to approve, a constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right to private property. The change has the clear support of the ruling Communist Party's leadership. The Chinese government provides extensive information in English on the Second Session of the 10th National People's Congress, including information on the pending constitutional amendment. China Radio International provides recorded audio in English of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's report to the opening session of the Congress. AP has more.

AP is reporting that today's scheduled signing ceremony of Iraq's interim constitution has been delayed indefinitely following the last-minute rejection of the constitution's wording by five Shiite members of the Iraqi Governing Council.

UPDATE: The UK Press Association reports: "The Shiites’ move threw the signing ceremony into disarray. The ceremony was put on hold with officials waiting in front of a stage set up in Baghdad’s convention centre, 25 fountain pens waiting on an antique desk for the members to use to ink the deal." The contentious clauses in the document apparently are the ones on Kurdish autonomy. The Press Association has more.

AP is reporting that Attorney General John Ashcroft has been hospitalized with severe stomach pains.

UPDATE: A spokesman says the Attorney General is in intensive care with severe case of gallstone pancreatitis and is being monitored. He came to the emergency room of George Washington University Hospital late Thursday evening. A DOJ press release on the Attorney General's condition is here. George Washington University Hospital has also issued a press release, and will provide updates here. The medical information clearinhouse BioMed Central says:

The majority of patients with acute gallstone pancreatitis have a mild attack and recover without additional treatment. In about 20% of patients, the attack is severe and is associated with a mortality rate of about 20%. Patients with severe pancreatitis require management in a high-dependency or intensive care setting.

Reuters has more.

South Korean politicians and legal experts are locked in a divisive debate in advance of an extraordinary session of the country's National Assembly called for Monday to consider the possible impeachment of South Korea President Roh Moo-hyun (see a BBC profile). Roh is accused of violating the country's electoral law by making partisan election comments. At issue is whether he can be unilaterally impeached by the country's Oppostion, which has given him until Sunday to apologize for his remarks or face the consequences. No South Korea President has ever been impeached. The Korea Times has more.

Canada's high court ruled Thursday that a convicted murderer, Brian Joseph Smith of Newfoundland, who had died during the appeal process could not have his conviction posthumously overturned on his own motion. Justice Ian Binnie wrote: "The dead cannot give instructions. Nor are the dead any longer amenable to the direction of the court. If the appeal is to be carried on in the interest of the "Smith family", a live appellant should be substituted." Read the opinion here, which also canvasses US and UK law on the subject. The Toronto Globe & Mail has more.

Hans Blix, the former chief UN arms inspector in Iraq and an international lawyer by training, told the UK Independent Friday that he believed the 2003 war against Iraq was illegal. He rejected arguments made by the British and American governments that the war in Iraq was authorized by Saddam Hussein's breach of UN resolutions prior to 1441 (under which the Security Council threatened Iraq with "serious consequences") made an explicit second Security Council resolution condoning the use of force unnecessary. "I don't buy the argument that the war was legalised by the Iraqi violation of earlier resolutions," he said. In any event, the US and UK had no right to act alone: "It's the security council that is party to the ceasefire [at the end of the Gulf War], not the UK and US individually, and therefore it is the council that has the ownership of the ceasefire, in my interpretation". The Independent has more. Blix's new book about his UN work, entitled Disarming Iraq: The Search for Weapons of Mass Destruction, is due to be published tomorrow. Excerpts will be available on the UK Guardian's website here.

In Friday's US law and business press, the Fulton County Daily Review reports on opening statements in the federal class action suit against several funeral homes and GA's Tri-State Crematory for mishandling corpses sent for cremation.... The Recorder reports on a CA appeals court ruling that the state can sue Indian tribes to force disclosure of lobbying activities and campaign contributions.... The ABA Journal reports on a series of cases the US Supreme Court will hear this spring which will test the limits of presidential power.... FindLaw's Writ features Hastings law professor Vikram David Amar's commentary on same-sex marriages and the CA Supreme Court, as well as NY attorney Gerald J. Russello's book review of Lou Cannon's Governor Reagan: His Rise To Power.

click for the previous US law and business press review

On March 5, 1970, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty took effect after ratification by 43 countries. Read a brief history of the NPT.