In Friday's rights and liberties news, the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a federal complaint today against Los Angeles talk radio station KFI-AM and Clear Channel Communications after the station aired a skit portraying the new Iraqi Constitution as anti-Semitic and promoting injustice and the subjugation of women. The station apologized for the skit, aired during morning host Bill Handel's show, adding that the skit was not intended to offend anyone in the Muslim community. The Council, however, still plans to pursue its complaints because of the animosity and hatred the skit perpetuates against the Islamic community. AP has more.... A New Orleans school district is deciding whether to reprimand Paulette Walker, principal for Samuel J. Green Middle School, who distributed a student prayer for use before tests. The prayer asked God for help on tests, which are described as students' enemies. The ACLU is calling for an investigation of religion in district schools. AP has the full story.

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In Friday's federal courts roundup, the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Delaware may constitutionally charge a $3,000 fee to run for Congress in a major party primary. The court ruled that the fee was a legitimate method to keep the ballot from being clogged with frivolous candidates. AP has the full story. Read the opinion here [PDF].... The US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Twentieth Century Fox did not steal the idea for the 1996 movie "Jingle All the Way" from a high school teacher. The ruling reverses a $19 million judgment against the movie studio from 1991. AP has the full story. Read the opinion here.... Judge Royal Furgeson of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas granted a partial victory to a suburban San Antonio church in a dispute regarding religious freedom and zoning regulations. Ferguson ruled that denial of a building permit for Castle Hills First Baptist Church to complete the fourth floor of a building was a substantial burden on the free exercise of religion. Ferguson also ruled that denial of a permit to build a parking lot did not violate the church's rights. Baptist Press has the full story. Read the order here [PDF].... As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that while police can constrain protestors to maintain security and order, protesters have a right to demonstrate where their voices can be heard and may not be relegated to so-called "free speech" zones far removed from the target of their protests.

FOXNews is reporting that the US Army has dropped its criminal charges against US Army Muslim chaplain James Yee, formerly stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

UPDATE: A US Army Southern Command press release on the dismissal of the charges against Yee is now online here [PDF]. Yee was first accused of improperly transporting classified material, and was later charged with storing pornographic images on a government computer, and having sexual relations outside of marriage. The military says that it will offer Yee "nonjudicial punishment" under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for the latter offenses. The commander at Guantanamo decided to drop the charges relating to the classified material "citing national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence."

In international law news Friday, the UN's International Maritime Organization has said that governments are not acting quickly enough to prepare for the implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, a maritime anti-terror law that will come into force July 1. The IMO has this press release and background information on maritime security. Reuters has the full story.... A team representing 10 African countries has been formed to negotiate a new legal framework on the usage of Nile waters that will replace the 1929 Nile Treaty between Egypt and Britain. The 1929 agreement gives Egypt the right to veto uses of Lake Victoria water that it feels would threaten water levels in the Nile. AllAfrica.com has more.... The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has reinstated a charge of genocide against Radoslav Brdjanin, a Bosnian Serb former government minister. Brdjanin also faces charges of crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war and breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Read the Appeals Chamber's opinion. The UN News Service has more.... Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called for international cooperation in devising new rules to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction. In an interview which aired on PBS television, ElBaradei said that "there's a lot of measures we need to take, control of the nuclear material, better export control, better authority for the Agency, less countries having enrichment and reprocessing." Read the transcript of ElBaradei's interview and the full story from the UN News Service. The IAEA has more.

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KGW-TV in Portland is reporting that Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has ordered state agencies not to recognize marriage licences from same-sex couples. The decision follows a Wednesday meeting between the governor and Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers. According to a press release following that meeting, the governor is seeking to provide uniformity in the enforcement of laws throughout Oregon so that the controversial issue can ultimately be decided by the state's courts. Two Oregon counties - Multnomah and Benton - had already begun offering marriage licences to same-sex couples prior to the governor's announcement.

In a 5-4 ruling, the US Supreme Court today refused to maintain a stay of the execution of David Clayton Hill, according to AP. Hill has been on South Carolina's death row following a conviction for shooting a police officer in the head during a traffic stop ten years ago. The Court recently has refused to stay other executions while it takes on the case of David Larry Nelson, an Alabama death-row inmate who argues that his collapsed veins would make lethal injection "cruel and unusual punishment." The Court's order is here.

A simple error in addition recently subtracted a team of University of Montana School of Law students from a regional moot court competition. Montana's students apparently lost in the fourth round in the Salem regional of the prestigious Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. But upon reviewing the score sheets, they learned that the team had actually won. They notified the competition coordinator, the International Law Students Association, which then added the team to the international stage of the competition as equitable remedy for its error. The Missoula Independent has the whole story here.

In other legal education news, the Law School Admission Council is appealing a judge's order, made last month, to grant extra time on its Law School Admission Test to a learning disabled Syracuse University senior (see JURIST's initial report for more on the judgment). According to yesterday's Daily Orange, upholding the appeal would create a circuit split and ripen the case for Supreme Court review. Read its full story here.

Finally, Friday brings reports of lectures by US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at two different law schools. At the University of Connecticut School of Law last week, the associate justice spoke on many subjects, including the collegiality enjoyed by members of the current court, "the longest sitting bench since 1823." She also defended her decision not to recuse herself from a case involving a women's advocacy group with which she has long been associated. See JURIST's earlier report for more on the recusal controversy, and see the Advance for the full story on her Connecticut lecture. Then, at the City University of New York School of Law, Justice Ginsburg lectured on a pair of women who played important roles in American legal history despite facing gender-based barriers. The New York Law Journal offers the full story on her CUNY lecture here.

Responding to a phone call today from President Bush, Poland's president Aleksander Kwasniewski downplayed yesterday's criticism of intelligence failures prior to the war in Iraq and pledged to keep troops in that country "as long as needed to achieve the intended goals, plus one day longer," AP reports. The Polish president told Bush that earlier comments suggesting that he had been misled about weapons of mass destruction were a general criticism of intelligence gathering prior to the war, and were not directed at the US. Poland currently has more than 2400 troops in Iraq. Polish officials have justified the constitutionality of Polish participation in Iraq not as an act of war but instead as necessary enforcement of the United Nations embargo under Security Council Resolution 1441 [PDF]. The New York Times has more.

In the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Madrid, European Union ministers today proposed the creation of a new "anti-terrorism czar" position. According to the BBC, the official would not head a single agency comparable to the US Department of Homeland Security, but rather would work under the European Union security chief Javier Solana, coordinating security efforts of the countries' various ministers of justice, foreign affairs, finance, and transport. Reflecting concerns about national sovereignty, the anti-terrorism czar would have access to some but not all of member states' intelligence. The proposal will be considered during next week's European summit meeting. Michael McDowell, Ireland's Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform issued a press release describing the proposed position and expressing solidarity with Spain following the attacks.

In cyberspace law news Friday, a divided Nebraska Supreme Court has remanded a class-action antitrust suit against Microsoft for further proceedings, reversing the decision of the Dodge County district court. The Court held that individuals who were not direct purchasers nevertheless had legal standing to bring an action against Microsoft. Read the opinion here.... The US has filed its first WTO complaint against China, asking that China drop its 17 percent value-added tax on imported semiconductors and integrated circuits. Read the State Department's statement here. The complaint alleges that the tax treatment of chips produced in China is harming the US and other imports. In a statment Friday, Chinese officlals expressed surprise about the complaint.... German authorities this week conducted raids on more than 750 locations, searching for internet movie piracy operations. The raids resulted in 15 arrests and the confiscation of 19 servers. In addition, authorities discovered more than 40,000 CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, and more than 200 computers used in piracy operations. The two-year investigation targeted distributors both online and offline, as well as internet-based "release groups," and hackers who were using university and corporate computers to store movie files.

The USA Patriot Act and other legal instruments and strategies for the war on terror were debated by witnesses of different political persuasions testifying Friday before the US Commission on Civil Rights, the independent agency charged with monitoring federal civil rights enforcement. ACLU officials insisted that the Act diminished critical procedural checks and balances on executive powers, and was being used for many intrusive governmental purposes unrelated to terrorism. Read their testimony here. A senior fellow of the conservative Heritage Foundation offered a more favorable assessement of the legislation. Read that testimony here.

In Friday's corporations and securities law news, federal prosecutors in Chicago have started a criminal investigation into Hollinger International, focusing on Conrad Black and former Chicago Sun-Times publisher David Radler who allegedly took tens of millions of dollars that should have gone to shareholders. Chicago Tribune Knight Ridder has more.... The SEC said it suspended trading in Queench stock, a New York-based bottled water company, through April 1 due to the accuracy and adequacy of publicly disseminated information regarding contracts with Time Warner Inc., 7-Eleven Inc., and Disney World Property-Grosvenor. Reuters has more.... R. Neal Batson, the court-appointed examiner of Enron's bankruptcy has said that Ken Lay should have known about the accounting abuses at the company that created a false picture of success. The Washington Post has more.... Three executives at Columbia Management Group were put on leave at the end of last month following the probe into improper trades made at the company. Reuters has more.... Bank of America has denied any wrongdoing in the near-collapse of food giant, Parmalat, after prosecutors in Milan asked a judge on Thursday to indict the bank saying it must have been aware of the company's finances. AP has more.... Spirit Airlines is replacing its MD-80 fleet by ordering up to 95 new Airbus planes in a deal that could be worth $5 billion. FOXNews.com has more.... In the first day of deliberations in the trial of two former Tyco International executives, jurors asked the judge to define criminal intent before resuming deliberations. AP has more.

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In Friday's family law news, the Michigan House has passed a set of bills that would increase the maximum penalty for those who fail to pay child support in the state. Under current law, the maximum charge is a felony with up to 4 years in prison. One of the bills [PDF], sponsored by Rep. Dave Robertson, would increase the maximum to a felony with up to 10 years in prison for those who have either amassed $20,000 in child support debt or those who do not pay support for five years or longer. The bills now move to the Senate. The Flint Journal has more.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is reporting that the Quebec Court of Appeal, the province's high court, has held that same-sex couples have the right to marry. The Court also concluded that the traditional definition of marriage is discriminatory and unjustified. Quebec follows Ontario and British Columbia in recognizing the right of gay persons to marry. CBC has more. Background information on the Quebec case is available from Equal Marriage for Same-Sex Couples, a Canadian gay marriage advocacy site.

UPDATE: The court's ruling is now online here [DOC] (in French).

Sunni and Shia marchers demonstrated against the Iraqi interim constitution in Baghdad Friday as the world marked the first anniversary of the Iraq war that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The demonstration was organized by the highest Sunni authority in the country, the Association of Muslim Scholars. The interim constitution - formally known as the Transitional Administrative Law - has been criticized by Shia religious leaders, Iraqi members of the Arab Union of Jurists and others as being anti-majoritarian and for leaving critical issues unresolved. Aljazeera has more.

In environmental law news for Friday, officials for the EPA are in disagreement with a Missouri state agency's recommendation that occupants of about 160 homes within three-eighths mile of the nation's largest lead smelter located in Doe Run County move out quickly. On Tuesday, officials from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources told local residents that they should find new homes away from the 111 year old smelter operated by the Doe Run Company, as soil previously thought to have been freed of lead contamination was slowly rising to dangerous levels. The EPA, however, has stated that the statements made were "premature" as the soil must be studied for two to three more years in order to yield reliable data. AP has more... In other news, The New York Times reports that North Carolina has petitioned the EPA to provide stricter regulation of trans-boundary air pollution from 13 other states. If the motion succeeds, states as far away as Michigan would have to cut back on power plant pollution by as much as 50 percent, while states closer to North Carolina would have to reduce their emissions by as much as 80 percent. North Carolina contends that while they have enacted one of the strictest power plant pollution laws in the country, they will be unable to meet standards set by the Clean Air Act due to the pollution of other states... Finally, AP reports that cleanup work at the Love Canal chemical dump has been completed. The accomplishment comes more than twenty years after one of the most infamous environmental disasters, which forced the evacuation of an entire neighborhood and gave rise to the federally mandated Superfund program.

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In a series of rulings and orders Thursday the Federal Communications Commission clamped down on a number of instances of alleged broadcast indecency, providing policy clarifications and imposing heavy fines. Among the highlights of Commission action were a finding [PDF] that the U2 singer Bono's use of the "f-word" during the 2003 Golden Globe Awards (effusing over an award as "f---ing brilliant") was indecent and profane (the FCC also provides a news release [PDF]), and a proposed maximum fine of a Clear Channel subsidiary for broadcast of a dialogue between a radio host a couple engaged in a simulated or actual sex act. Infinity Broadcasting was also fined $27,500 in connection with a Howard Stern show. AP has more.

In court papers filed Thursday, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera asked the California Supreme Court to allow the city to resume gay marriages while the state court system deliberates on their constitutionality, a process that could take over a year. The request comes a week after the Court ordered the City to stop the marriages pending court decisions. At the same time Herrara argued that city mayor Gavin Newsom had the legal authority to issue the licenses in the first place. Read a City of San Francisco press release on the legal filings here. Read the full brief here [PDF]. AP has more.

A panel of the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that while police can constrain protestors to maintain security and order, protesters have a right to demonstrate where their voices can be heard and may not be relegated to so-called "free speech" zones far removed from the target of their protests. The ruling, handed down in San Francisco the day before new protests are scheduled on the one-year anniversary of the Iraq war, arose out of 1997 demonstrations by advocates for the homeless at the city's Presidio. The court declined to impose damages on police or the government in connection with the 1997 protests because it said that the law at the time was unsettled. Read the opinion here [PDF]. Friday's San Francisco Chronicle has more.

In Friday's media and information law news, Vermont state officials have said they would release sealed documents from former Governor Howard Dean's administration, but at a price of $187,650 - the cost to sort and index the 75,000 documents, AP reports. The Washington-based legal group Judicial Watch requested the documents during Dean's candidacy in the Democratic primary. A court order last month held that the files were covered by the state's public records law and could not be exempted from release with a blanket executive exception. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Dalton said it would take 7,000 hours to catalog the files and the price would cover the costs of doing so. Judicial Watch offers background on its action against Vermont and Howard Dean. AP has more.... A South Carolina judge has ruled that public records could not be withheld after they were seized as part of a criminal investigation, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reports. The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News sought the records as part of an investigation into corruption in the Waccamaw Regional Transportation Authority, but was told the records would not be available due to an investigation. South Carolina's Freedom of Information law allows records under investigation to be withheld if it "would harm the agency." Judge Paula Thomas ruled that the files were not converted to law enforcement documents once the investigation began. RCFP has more.

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Former Finnish Prime Minister Anneli Jaatteenmaki was acquitted Friday of inciting an aide to former Finnish President Paavo Lipponen to leak secret documents relating to his discussions on Iraq with President Bush, information from which later helped her party win Finnish parliamentary elections. Allegations that she had incited the leak had led to a political scandal and had forced her to resign from office. Reuters has more. Finland's STT news agency provides local coverage

After an all-night court session held to comply with Spanish anti-terror laws which provide that suspects cannot be held for more than five days without charge, a Spanish judge Friday formally charged three Moroccans and two Indians in connection with last week's Madrid train bombings. The Moroccans were charged with 190 counts of murder, 1400 counts of attempted murder, and with belonging to a terrorist organization; the Indians were charged with collaborating with a terrorist group and commiting fraud and forgery. CNN has more. Madrid's El Mundo has the latest local coverage in Spanish. An Algerian man previously questioned by Spanish authorities was released.

Taiwanese police are investigating the attempted assassination earlier today of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Vice-President Annette Lu while they were driving in an open-topped car through a crowd of supporters at an election campaign rally. Both leaders were shot, but neither sustained life-threatening injuries, and they have since been released from hospital. Under Taiwanese election law the national election scheduled for Saturday will go ahead - according to sources in Taiwan's Central Election Commission, it would only be called off if one of the candidates were to die. Taiwan's government information service offers a backgrounder on the weekend vote, which also includes a controversial referendum on the country's relationship and negotiating stance with mainland China. BBC News has more. The Taipei Times provides the latest local coverage.

UPDATE: President Chen and Vice-President Lu broadcast video statements to the nation on Friday night local time, saying they were in good condition and urging people to vote in Saturday's elections. Radio Taiwan International provides a transcript here.

In Friday's US law and business press, the Legal Intelligencer reports on a Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that in the trial of a products liability case where only the manufacturer has been sued, the plaintiff is not barred from introducing evidence of "subsequent remedial measures" taken by the owner.... The Recorder reports that two CA attorneys who failed to appear for arguments in a February case may face perjury charges if either or both of them lied to the court.... The Denver Business Journal reports that the CO Attorney General has filed four more lawsuits against CO residents as part of an ongoing investigation into illegal pyramid schemes.... The ABA Journal offers advice to attorneys on charting their futures early in their careers.... FindLaw's Writ features Part Two of attorney/author Julie Hilden's assessment of Martha Stewart's defense, as well as NY attorney Sam Williamson's book review of Brad Meltzer's The Zero Game.

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Zak Shusterman is off. Here are some of the legal stories running in Friday's foreign press.... The UK's Guardian reports that at Friday's meeting of EU interior and justice ministers, Britain will call on the EU to adopt tougher anti-terrorism measures, including common rules for retaining mobile phone and internet data.... Singapore's Straits Times reports that South Korea's Constitutional Court has begun a review of the recent presidential impeachment and has asked President Roh Moo Hyun to testify before the court. Six of the nine judges must vote in favor of last week's National Assembly vote in order for the impeachment to go through.

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US Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren was born on March 19, 1891, in Los Angeles, California. He led the Court during a critical period of social change in the 1950s and 1960s and is perhaps best known for his Opinion in Brown v. Board of Education. Learn more about Earl Warren from the Supreme Court Historical Society, and hear him deliver the Landon Lecture at Kansas State University in 1970, shortly after his retirement, on the theme "The Alternative is Chaos."