Leading Tuesday's law school news, the University of Michigan Law School reports that the Supreme Court has recognized the scholarship of Professor Richard Friedman by adopting his advocated interpretation of the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause. In Crawford v. Washington [PDF], issued Monday, the Court abandoned a previously flexible rule in favor of a categorical one, and one allegedly more in tune with original understandings of the Clause. In making the change, it explicitly acknowledged the advocacy of Professor Friedman, whose remarks in response to the ruling are available from Michigan Law here.

In other law school news Tuesday, Capital University Law School has announced the appointment of Professor Jack Guttenberg of Cleveland State University's Cleveland-Marshall College of Law as its new dean. Guttenberg will make the intrastate move and begin his tenure with Capital on July 1. Capital's press release has more on his appointment here.

Finally, some law school news from our neighbors to the north. The Toronto Star reports today on mounting opposition from both faculty and students at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School, Canada's largest, to a $3,000 annual tuition increase being recommended by the school's dean in the face of persistent budget deficits. Osgoode's faculty council voted against the increase in principle on Monday, on the grounds that it "could price the school out of reach of all but the rich." Read Dean Patrick Monahan's rationale in his letter to the Osgoode community here, and read the Star's full report on subsequent opposition here. The increase follows major tuition hikes at other Canadian law schools - especially at the University of Toronto - which are causing a number of Canadian observers to fear that Canadian legal education will either become inaccessible to many qualified students, or will burden them with huge debt-loads that will drive them into corporate practice instead of public interest or government service.

Greg Chaimov, the chief legal counsel of the Oregon Legislature, has sent a non-binding opinion to state legislators stating that Oregon's existing marriage law could be found unconstitutional because it treats same-sex couples unequally to heterosexual couples, according to a report by KATU-TV in Portland. Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski nevertheless expects the issue to be decided by the state supreme court.

US Senators criticized implementation of the US-VISIT entry program in an Appropriations Committee meeting Tuesday in connection with the testimony of Asa Hutchinson, the Homeland Security undersecretary. Most of the criticism was focused on the incompatibilities between the control systems setup by Homeland Security and those used by the FBI. Two issues raised were the amount of time it will take for Border Patrol and FBI databases to be fully integrated and the number of fingerprints collected by immigration officials. Typically the Border Patrol collects only two fingerprints, while the FBI database includes ten.

The Department of Justice Tuesday dropped its efforts to subpoena abortion records from six Planned Parenthood affiliates, according to AP. The records were being sought to defend a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood challenging the Partial Birth Abortion Ban of 2003 [PDF]. The decision to not seek the subpoenas comes in the wake of a District Court ruling that the records could not be introduced by the government at trial. The Justice Department will continue to pursue abortion records in a similar challenge to the same law in a New York case.

Northwest Airlines today reached a settlement with the Department of Transportation acknowledging that the carrier violated the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) by failing to meet requirements for in-cabin storage of wheelchairs. In addition to agreeing to cease violations of the ACAA and other regulations against disability discrimination, Northwest will also pay a civil penalty of $225,000. $205,000 of this amount will be credited to Northwest to cover installation costs for closets to accomodate standard-sized wheelchairs that will aid the airline's compliance with the ACAA. Read the US Department of Transportation press release here.

WNBC-TV in New York City is reporting that New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey has sent letters to New Jersey city officials telling them to desist from marrying gay couples and issuing them marriage licenses, or else face criminal charges. Officials in Asbury Park, NJ, performed the first same-sex marriage in the state late yesterday afternoon (as previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase). The Attorney General's Office has issued this formal statement:

Today, we have given advice to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics that New Jersey law does not permit same sex marriages. We understand that the State Registrar has forwarded that advice to municipal officials throughout New Jersey having authority to issue marriage licenses and solemnize marriages. The advice we have provided is based on our review of State statutes, prior rulings by State courts and, most recently, the November 2003 decision issued by Judge Feinberg in Superior Court in Mercer County. We are urging all municipal officials to comply with the law as it exists.

We continue to believe that, ultimately, the issue of same sex marriage is most appropriately addressed by the Legislature. We also urge same sex couples to take advantage of the Domestic Partnership Act, which grants our citizens important rights. While we understand the desire of same sex couples to marry, New Jersey law does not recognize such marriages. We hope that municipal officials will comply with the law as it exists. If not, this matter will have to be resolved by the court.

The news release is online here.

Iran on Tuesday denied allegations made Monday by International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Mohamed ElBaradei that its nuclear program had violated the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (see a previous report on JURIST's Paper Chase). Meanwhile, leading members of the IAEA, meeting in Vienna, reached agreement on a draft resolution that was critical of Iran for its nuclear secrecy but which also included praise of that country for its new co-operation with international authorities. Reuters has more; see also this AP report.

The European Parliament Tuesday passed tough new anti-piracy legislation - the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive - that has already elicited protests from civil liberties groups that fear that its provisions, aimed primarily at commercial enterprises, could visit harsh penalties upon individual file-swappers and other information users (see, for instance, this recent European Digital Rights press release). A statement on the vote in the European Parliament is here. CNET has more.

The US Justice Department claimed in court papers Tuesday that Oracle Corporation was withholding critical documents pertaining to its blocked merger with PeopleSoft Inc. which is now the subject of an antitrust lawsuit announced by the DOJ last month (the DOJ press release announcing the lawsuit is here; the Oracle press release expressing their intention to challenge the suit is here). The documents at issue are customer "discount" forms showing how Oracle discounted its products when competing witn PeopleSoft. Review the Plantiff's Statement Regarding Disputed Issues, now online from the DOJ. Oracle has countered by saying the documents were not properly requested, and by arguing that they had not passed them on because of burden and relevancy considerations. Reuters has more.

A spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad said Tuesday that US Administrator Paul Bremer had formally approved Iraq's new interim constitution - the Transitional Administrative Law - Monday night after receiving it from the Iraqi Governing Council, which had signed it at a ceremony earlier in the day. The American Forces Press Service has more. Meanwhile, some Iraqi Shiite leaders continued to express concern over the document, which they say needs amendment in certain respects and should be subject to approval by an elected body. One top Shiite cleric even went so far as to say that the federal structure granting significant power to the Kurds could be a recipe for "civil war". AP has more. Regionally, the government of Turkey has also expressed reservations about the interim charter, largely on the grounds that Kurdish autonomy within a new Iraqi federal structure might provide a bad example for Kurds in its own territory. AFP has more

The George Washington University Hospital has just released a statement on the condition of Attorney General John Ashcroft after he underwent a gallbladder removal procedure earlier this afternoon:

Everything went as planned. He’s in guarded condition, which is normal after such a procedure. He’s now in the ICU, recovering from general anesthesia.

We’re monitoring the Attorney General carefully to be sure his breathing, heart rate and blood pressure remain normal. We will be able to give another update on his condition this Thursday. Usually, in these cases, the patient remains in the hospital for 4-5 days for observation.

Read the full statement here.

South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds announced Tuesday that, apart from "style and form" reservations that prompted him to exercise his veto power, he supports a broad abortion ban bill (read HB 1191) passed by the state legislature that would set South Dakota on a calculated collision course with the US Supreme Court and the landmark Roe. v. Wade ruling. The anti-Roe v. Wade Governor objects to a provision in the legislation that might allow abortions to continue in the state while the legislation is undergoing judicial review. Once that provision is changed, the bill will automatically become law. The bill bars any abortion "unless it is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman, or if there is a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman." AP has more. KSFY-TV in Sioux Falls offers a backgrounder on the South Dakota abortion bill.

Tuesday's Wall St. Journal reports on recent incidents of military involvement in domestic law enforcement, traditionally considered anathema under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, but now apparently making a resurgence in the aftermath of September 11. One recent incident was a visit last month by an Army intelligence officer to the Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Texas law school, demanding the school turn over a tape of a law school conference on Islam and the Law at which three "three Middle Eastern men" had reportedly made "suspicious" remarks to an Army lawyer. The officer was attached to INSCOM, the Army Information and Security Command based at Fort Belvoir, MD. Army officials askied about the incident say the officer may have overstepped his bounds, but was likely reacting to what he perceived as a security threat. The WSJ has more. A US NORTHCOM (Northern Command) factsheet offers background on the Posse Comitatus Act but also points out exceptions that allow the military to assist domestic law enforcement in certain circumstances.

FOXNews is reporting that convicted DC sniper John Allen Muhammad has been sentenced to death.

UPDATE: AP now has more. Sentence will be carried out October 14. The jury in Muhammad's trial, which concluded at the end of November, had recommended the death sentence on two charges, as reported by the Virginian Pilot newspaper. The Prince William County Virginia County Clerk's office provides images of collected documents from the Muhammad trial.

The African Union, the organization of 53 African states, said in a statement Tuesday that the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide at the end of February was "unconstitutional":

The African Union expresses the view that the unconstitutional way by which President Aristide was removed set a dangerous precedent for a duly elected person and wishes that no action be taken to legitimize the rebel forces...

The head of the AU Commission held talks Tuesday with Aristide in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, where Aristide is currently staying. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has insisted once again that the changeover in Haiti was constitutional, and that Aristide had signed an appropriate letter of resignation. AFP has more.

UPDATE: A late report from Reuters says that Aristide lawyer Ira Kurzban, from Miami, has written a letter to US Attorney General John Ashcroft seeking an investigation of the "kidnapping" of Aristide and his wife (notably a US citizen) and the prosecution of responsible US officials under US federal law. Papers have also been served on US Secretary of State Colin Powell invoking the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons preliminary to a claim in the International Court of Justice. Ira Kurzban was interviewed earlier today on the Democracy Now radio program - listen to MP3 recorded audio.

New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey goes to court Tuesday seeking an injunction to stop same-sex marriages in New Jersey, not 24 hours after the first same-sex ceremony was performed in Asbury Park (as previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase). Marriage license applications for six other same-sex couples are pending. A spokesman for the Attorney General said that the New Jersey Superior Court had specifically ruled last November in a case brought by Lambda Legal that same-sex marriages were not permitted under New Jersey legislation, and that they had no basis in the state constitution. The Newark Star-Ledger has more.

The US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Monday refused to authorize a shift of the habeas corpus hearing accused of al-Qaida member Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri from South Carolina to Peoria, Illinois, from its present venue of South Carolina. Lawyers for al-Marri, a Qatar national who has been declared an "enemy combatant" had sought to have his petition head in Peoria because al-Marri lived there and the activity he would be tried for had taken place there. Judge Frank Easterbrook ruled that Seventh Circuit jurisdiction was appropriate because al-Marri was being held at the Charleston South Carolina Naval brig. Read the opinion here [PDF]. Read a US DOJ press release describing the original criminal charges against al-Marri here (dismissed when he was designated an enemy combatant [PDF]). The Peoria Journal has more.

The US Department of Justice has announced that Attorney General John Ashcroft will undergo surgery Tuesday to remove gallstones which brought him into hospital with severe pancreatitis last Thursday evening. Read the DOJ press release. A press briefing after the surgery has been scheduled for sometime after 2 PM.

Campaigning in Florida yesterday ahead of Tuesday's state primary, Senator John Kerry, the all-but-official Democratic nominee for President in the November election, told voters that he was already putting together a legal team to examine Florida districts with voting problems, and could even pre-challenge in those districts before votes are cast. Kerry, a lawyer himself, is obviously wary of the fate that befell Al Gore in the Florida recount imbroglio that followed the November 2000 election, and which ultimately ended up in the hands of the US Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore. AP has more. Suggesting that the problem hasn't gone away, a Broward County election supervisor was charged yesterday with 55 counts of election law violations in connection with a 2002 state primary that was marred by improper ballots and uncounted votes. Again, AP has more.

Rather than immediately press its constitutional reform package on a recalcitrant House of Lords, which last night voted to divert into committee the controversial plan to create a new UK Supreme Court and abolish the Lord Chancellor's office (as previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase), the government of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday it will opt for a "period of reflection." A transcript of today's daily briefing by the Prime Minister's official spokesman is here. Two senior members of the House of Lords gave their views on the legislation in a BBC Radio interview this morning. The UK Guardian newspaper has more.

Martha Stewart, convicted last Friday on four counts in her stock trading trial, will leave her position on the board of Martha Stewart Omnimedia, according to a source quoted by CNNfn. It is not yet clear whether she will formally resign her position or simply not run for re-election. The MSO board met Monday for several hours but did not issue any announcement. The former MSO chairman and chief executive officer left those positions in June after being indicted in connection with a controversial 2001 sale of ImClone shares. Yesterday, Stewart resigned from the board of Revlon, which she has sat on since 1996. She also met in New York with probation officers who will be recommending what sentence she should serve - legal experts are suggesting that she could get 12-24 months, or less if the judge agrees to a so-called "downward departure." CNNfn has more.

The first major war crimes trial of Serbs in Serbia opens Tuesday at a special high-security court in Belgrade. Six former Serbian paramilitary officers are charged with the 1991 killing of more than 200 civilians at a pig farm in the Croatian town of Vukovar. As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, a seventh accused died yesterday of injuries sustained in a suicde attempt in January. The trial is seen as a test case for post-Milosevic Serbian justice, and is especially important for critics of the Hague international war crimes tribunal, like current Serbian President Vojislav Kostunica, who want to have Serbs tried for war crimes at home rather than abroad. BBC News has more.

Five British nationals held by the US at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are being released to UK authorities and returned to the United Kingdom Tuesday according to US and British officials. They will be questioned by British law enforcement officers but may well be freed after that. The pending release of the five had been announced several weeks ago; the actual timing of their release coincides with an official visit by UK Home Secretary David Blunkett to the United States, where he has been discussing the war on terror with American counterparts while also pressing for what he has called "fair treatment" of the four remaining UK detainees. BBC News has more. The release also comes while a delegation of UK rights activists and families is in the United States similarly pressing the remaining detainees cases along with the National Council of Churches (see their Monday press release) and various US-based rights groups.

UPDATE: The US Defense Department says that the transfer of the UK detainees is now complete.

Following up a story reported last Friday on JURIST's Paper Chase, the South Korean opposition today formally set in motion the process to impeach South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun (see a BBC profile). Roh is accused of violating the country's electoral law by making partisan election comments. No South Korea President has ever been impeached. Reuters has more. The English-language Korea Times provides local coverage.

In Tuesday's US law and business press, the Legal Intelligencer reports on the high turnover rate of marketing directors at large law firms.... The New York Law Journal reports that defense closing arguments have begun in the Tyco International trial.... The New Jersey Law Journal reports that a NJ lawyer has been charged with theft after becoming involved in a scam concocted by criminal nomads.... FindLaw's Writ features Hofstra law professor Joanna Grossman's column on a CA Supreme Court holding that a "presumed" father has more rights than a biological one, as well as DC attorney Walter Weber's guest column on why the US Supreme Court's decision in Locke v. Davey was wrong.

click for the previous US law and business press review

On March 9, 1841, the US Supreme Court ruled in The Amistad case that a group of slaves who took over their ship were free. Learn more about The Amistad in JURIST's Famous Trials series.