In Monday's federal courts roundup, Judge Ronald Lagueux of the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island settled a jurisdictional dispute when he ruled that civil suits stemming from a nightclub fire last year would be heard in federal court. Lagueux relied on a relatively new federal law which provides federal jurisdiction for cases in which an accident results in at least 75 deaths and a defendant resides in a different state than where the accident occurred. The fire killed 100 people at a show by the band Great White in February 2003. AP has the full story. Read the opinion here [PDF].... As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, three challenges to a new federal law which bans certain types of abortions opened today in federal courts in New York, Nebraska, and California. Plaintiffs' attorneys argued that the law is unconstitutionally vague and fails to provide an exception for the health of the mother. AP has the latest on this story.... The US Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. The case asks for a clarification of when federal agencies may be sued for failing to follow congressional mandates. AP has the full story.... The High Court also heard arguments in Nelson v. Campbell, which involves the constitutionality of capital punishment by lethal injection. Death row inmate David Larry Nelson claims that his veins, damaged by years of drug abuse, would not allow a lethal injection to be humanely administered. The technical question before the Court is whether last minute appeals from death row inmates should be allowed in federal courts, but questioning repeatedly returned to lethal injection. AP has the full story.

In international law news Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has said that proposed revisions of EU asylum laws will violate international refugee law. Tomorrow's EU ministerial discussion on the harmonization of asylum law is set to include a proposal that would allow countries to send asylum seekers to another country designated as safe, but according to the UNHCR, safeguards in the third countries are not guaranteed. Proposals relating to an asylum seeker's right of appeal could also lead to violations on international law. Read the UNHCR press release. The Guardian has more. Human rights groups have sent a joint letter [PDF] to Antonio Vitorino, European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, calling for the withdrawal of the proposed Asylum Procedures Directive. Human Rights Watch has this press release.... Jacques Verges, the French lawyer claiming to be representing Saddam Hussein, has said that the US has violated the Geneva Conventions in its detention of Hussein. Verges has also said that he hopes to take Hussein's case to the International Criminal Court, where Britain, Spain and other countries that took part in the Iraq war could be held liable. The ICC has indicated that it wouldn't have jurisdiction over events that occurred in Iraq because Iraq never signed the Rome Statute. AP has more. As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, a Jordanian lawyer is contesting Verges' announcement this weekend that he is representing Hussein.... UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has announced disciplinary measures in response to a Security in Iraq Accountability Panel report [PDF] that identified institutional and individual failures in assessing the security situation in Iraq. Annan established the accountability panel to carry out an independent investigation into all entities involved in the security of UN operations in Iraq. Annan has called for the resignations of the official in charge of overall staff security and the designated official in Iraq, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, who is currently Assistant Secretary General in the UN and who has been asked to return to his post in the UN World Food Programme with no future responsibilities for security matters. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, chair of the Steering Group on Iraq (SGI) which made the decision to return to Iraq, submitted her resignation to Annan, but despite his disappointment in security failures attributable to SGI, Annan declined to accept Frechette's resignation. The UN News Service has more on additional disciplinary measures taken by Annan. Watch recorded video of today's UN press conference.

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Professor Mark Lemley of the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law liked Stanford so much he decided to stay. A visiting professor of intellectual property law at Stanford Law School last fall, Lemley has accepted an offer to join the permanent ranks of Boalt's cross-bay rival. According to the Recorder's report on his appointment, Stanford offers him a chance to work "with real stars in IP" like Lawrence Lessig and Paul Goldstein. Lemley is himself a star in intellectual property, the author of six books and 51 articles on the subject and a co-director of Boalt's Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. Once firmly rooted in Palo Alto, he will direct Stanford's counterpart Program in Law, Science & Technology.

Lemley's is not the only appointment in the news. Late last week, Georgetown University Law Center named Professor T. Alexander Aleinkoff as the school's 14th dean. A leading scholar of immigration law, Aleinkoff is equally prolific, having authored more than 50 books and articles. On the occasion of his appointment, GULC offers both a press release and a statement by outgoing Dean Judith Areen, who hails her successor as "visionary leader" as well as an "able scholar."

In other law school news, the Tallahassee Democrat reports today on a new facility in the works for the Florida A&M University College of Law. The $28 million building in downtown Orlando, slated for a 2005 opening, represents the resurrection of a law program that lay dormant for more than three decades because of state budget cuts. Meanwhile, FAMU students wait on more than an upgrade from their temporary quarters: they also await a vote on provisional accreditation by the American Bar Association to take place later this year. The Democrat has the full story on the status of the school's facility and its accreditation here.

Several legal experts said Monday that the legal case supporting National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's refusal to give public testimony before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States on grounds of executive privilege is weak. The fact that she has already met with the commission privately, and has spoken out publicly on related matters in response to the assertions of Richard Clarke and others help to undermine it, they noted. There are, however, scholars on the other side, like Harvard law professor and former Reagan solicitor general Charles Fried, who insist that previous instances of White House advisers testifying publicly on advice given the President were special instances involving criminal prosecutions or other unusual matters. Rice herself said Sunday night on the CBS news program 60 Minutes:

Nothing would be better, from my point of view, than to be able to testify. I would really like to do that. But there's an important principle involved here. We have separate branches of government - the legislative branch and the executive branch. This commission, it takes its authority, derives its authority from the Congress, and it is a long-standing principle that sitting National Security Advisors do not testify before the Congress....[T]he only National Security Advisors, sitting National Security Advisors that to our knowledge have testified did so in matters having to do with either criminal intent or criminal allegations, or impropriety - not on matters of policy. Indeed, Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger and Tony Lake and Henry Kissinger have all declined to testify when matters of policy come up because it's important for the President's close, personal staff to not breach this line between the executive and the legislature.

Read the full 60 Minutes interview transcript here. AP has more. Columbia law school's Michael Dorf offers a brief history of executive privilege. During his Presidency, Bill Clinton invoked executive privilege to stop two of his aides from testifying before the Office of Independent Counsel investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair, but later dropped the argument after an unfavorable court ruling and shifted instead to arguments of attorney-client privilege.

Five suspects in the March 11 train bombings in Spain were interrogated by a judge Monday in a Madrid court. The suspects, four Moroccans and one Syrian, are among 18 people who have been detained so far in connection with the bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800. Twelve of those suspects have been criminally charged. The suspects were questioned today in National Court for several hours. Investigators are pursuing links between the suspects and the al-Qaida terrorist network. AP has more.

The US government asked a federal judge Monday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Dr. Stephen Hatfill, a bioterroism expert who claims the government ruined his reputation by linking him to the 2001 anthrax attacks. Read Hatfill's complaint here [PDF]. Hatfill was labeled a "person of interest" by Attorney General John Ashcroft during the anthrax scare over two years ago (read a September 2002 statement by the DOJ here). Hatfill claims that this was an attempt by the government to draw attention away from its inability to find those responsible for sending the anthrax-laced letters. The Attorney General's office argues that the identification of Hatfill was to downplay Hatfill's involvement, by making it clear that he was not a suspect. US District Judge Reggie B. Walton has not yet ruled on the motion to dismiss, but did agree to set aside trial preparations until October. Read more from the Baltimore Sun.

Eight descendants of slaves filed a lawsuit Monday in a New York federal court against U.S. and British corporations, seeking $1 billion in punitive damages. The complaint accuses corporations such as Lloyd's of London and R.J. Reynolds of "aiding and abetting the commission of genocide" by financing and insuring the slave trade. Unlike prior slavery reparations cases, this is the first case in which DNA evidence is being used to link the current plaintiffs to enslaved Africans. AP has more. The BBC reports that lawyers in the UK have welcomed the case. Two months ago, a federal judge in Chicago threw out a similar suit brought by slave descendants.

Updating a story reported earlier JURIST's Paper Chase, the Massachusetts legislature meeting Monday in Constitutional Convention has now agreed on a revised version of a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage and legalizing civil unions. The amendment could go on the Massachusetts ballot in the fall of 2006. AP has the full story here. The Boston Herald has quotes from today's debate in the Statehouse here.

UPDATE: The proposed amendment, support by the Massachusetts House and Senate leadership, and narrowly endorsed by a final vote of 105-2, reads:

The unified purpose of this Article is both to define the institution of civil marriage and to establish civil unions to provide same-sex persons with entirely the same benefits, protections, rights, privileges and obligations as are afforded to married persons, while recognizing that under present federal law same-sex persons in civil unions will be denied federal benefits available to married persons.

It being the public policy of this commonwealth to protect the unique relationship of marriage, only the union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in the commonwealth. Two persons of the same sex shall have the right to form a civil union if they otherwise meet the requirements set forth by law for marriage. Civil unions for same sex persons are established by this Article and shall provide entirely the same benefits, protections, rights, privileges and obligations that are afforded to persons married under the law of the commonwealth. All laws applicable to marriage shall also apply to civil unions.

This Article is self-executing, but the general court may enact laws not inconsistent with anything herein contained to carry out the purpose of this Article.

AP has more.

In Monday's corporations and securities law news, after reviewing evidence and testimony put forth by the prosecution, the federal judge in the trial of four former Qwest Communications executives has denied a defense motion to acquit the executives of charges they conspired to falsely recognize revenue for the phone company. The defense will resume putting on its evidence. Read the indictment against the four executives here [PDF]. Reuters has more.... Two treasury officials at Vivendi Universal are being investigated for possibly manipulating the company's stock price after the September 11 attacks. Vivendi which settled fraud charges with the SEC by paying a fine of $50 million still faces a class action suit in the United States, possible penalties by French market authorities and an ongoing probe by the Paris public prosecutor. Read the SEC press release announcing the $50 million fine here. Reuters has more.... Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, announced the SEC is investigating benefits received by certain directors and officers of the company. Reuters has more.... Securities regulators have started an informal inquiry into software company Quovadx Inc. related to its recent accounting restatement announcement. Read the Quovadx press release announcing the informal inquiry here. Reuters has more.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the judge in the trial of Tyco International criminal case has denied a request for a mistrial based on the media coverage of a single juror who is in favor of acquittal. Read the indictment here [PDF]. Reuters has more.... The SEC has published for comment the restructuring plan of the Pacific Exchange, the fifth-largest US equity options market, as the exchange moves closer to becoming a for-profit corporation from a member-owned entity. Read the Pacific Exchange press release here. Reuters has more.

In merger news, US biotechnology giant, Amgen Inc. will buy Tularik Inc. for about $1.3 billion in stock to gain access to experimental treatments for cancer, obesity and heart disease. Read the Amgen press release announcing the deal here[PDF]. Bloomberg.com has more.... In a move to compete with Nextel Communications Inc., Arch Wireless Inc., the biggest U.S. wireless-paging company, will buy its largest rival, Metrocall Holdings Inc., for $281.3 million in cash and stock. Bloomberg.com has more.... Lyondell Chemical, a the producer of propylene oxide and its derivatives, will buy Millennium Chemicals, the world's second-largest producer of titanium oxide, for $1 billion. Read the Lyondell press release here. The Financial Times has more.

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The judge presiding in the Tyco corporate corruption case refused Monday to order a mistrial as requested by defense attorneys citing media reports on a juror who supposedly had given an "OK" signal to the defense table, as depicted over the weekend in a front-page drawing in the New York Post. New York State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus declined to issue the mistrial order following a meeting with "juror No. 4", a 79-year-old former school teacher and attorney. Bloomberg has more.

Iraqi Shiites are circulating a petition against Iraq's new interim constitution with the intent of delivering it to Iraqi leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who continues to voice his strong objection to several of its provisions (in particular its establishment of a group presidency for Iraq). Iraqi Governing Council members fear that many Iraqis are learning about the interim charter for the first time through the petition, which according to a Boston Globe report "describes the law as "a tragedy" that paves the way for the United States to dominate Iraq's future, encourages immoral behavior, and opens the door for Jews to take power." The Boston Globe has more. On Saturday, an aide to Sistani said that if provisions in the document are not changed, the Ayatollah may issue a religious edict, or fatwa, declaring it illegal. Reuters has more on that.

The US Supreme Court Monday granted certiorari in three cases - Small v. United States (on whether foreign convictions warrant disenfranchisement of firearms rights - read the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals opinion appealed from here [PDF]; Reuters has more), Commissioner v. Banks and Commissioner v. Banaitis (on taxation of contingent fee awards - read the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion in Banks here, and the US Ninth Circuit opinion in Banaitis here [PDF]), and Smith v. City of Jackson (on disparate impact claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act - read the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion here [PDF]; Bloomberg has more). Today's full Supreme Court Order List is here [PDF]. Thanks to the DC litigation firm Goldstein & Howe for the case links from their SCOTUSblog.

Ireland today implements the toughest smoking ban in Europe by extending the country's ban on smoking to bars, restaurants, clubs, offices, factories and other public places, in addition to the buses, cinemas, bingo halls and government buildings where smoking is already banned. The government expects a 90% compliance rate with the new measure. Ireland's Health Ministry has established a Smoke-Free at Work website. The full text of the legislation implementing the ban is here. From Dublin, Ireland's RTE has more.

The British government Monday is outlining plans and policies for a new FBI-style agency that will counter organized crimes in Great Britain. The new Serious and Organised Crime Agency, announced earlier this year by UK Home Secretary David Blunkett, will be supported by a national witness protection scheme and will be empowered to tap phones and make deals with gang informers. BBC News has more.

UPDATE: A UK Home Office press release is now available here.

The Massachusetts Constitutional Convention reconvenes for a third time Monday in an effort to gain final agreement on a constitutional amendment on same-sex marriage. At its second session two weeks ago tentative approval was given to an amendment that would ban same-sex marriage but authorize civil unions with many of the same rights and benefits as marriage. It is by no means certain, however, that this is the amendment that will actually go forward from today's session. The Boston Globe has more. The list of proposed amendments under consideration today is here.

Challengers of new federal partial-birth abortion legislation go before federal courts today in three states - New York, Nebraska and California - in an effort to overturn the ban on late-term abortion procedures as unconstitutional. The US Department of Justice is defending the legislation and provides additional background here. The National Right to Life Committee offers information about the act here, while the ACLU offers a critical perspective here. AP has more.

Israel's Supreme Court Monday ordered the handover of documents relevant to two corruption cases involving a son of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, one of which is said to involve the Prime Minister. Israel's State Attorney over the weekend recommended that Sharon be indicted for his role in a bribery scandal arising from his family's business dealings, but the country's Attorney General has as yet made no final decision on the recommendation. The Jerusalem Post has more.

In Monday's US law and business press, the New York Law Journal reports that a NY man who shot another man 10 times has escaped a murder conviction because the prosecutor used the wrong murder charge.... The Recorder reports on a Ninth Circuit ruling that a defendant who feigns poverty while requesting a court-appointed public defender cannot be prosecuted for lying on a government application.... Arkansas Business reports that after fleeing to Madagascar, Little Rock tax attorney Keith Moser has returned to Arkansas to face charges of theft of over $500,000 in client trust funds.... The National Law Journal reports that this week the nation's business community and the Bush Administration will try to persuade the US Supreme Court to eliminate tort liability under the Alien Tort Statute.... According to the Fulton County Daily Report, in an appearance before a disciplinary committee, a NY lawyer who failed to appear for a high profile Eleventh Circuit oral argument in 2002 blamed it on vertigo.... FindLaw's Writ features attorney Noah Leavitt's column on South Africa's grant of asylum to deposed Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, as well as MD attorney Irwin Kramer's guest commentary on the legal issues surrounding Donald Trump's desire to trademark the phrase, "You're Fired."

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On March 29, 1867, the British Parliament passed the British North America Act, a constitutional document creating an independent and united Dominion of Canada. It went into effect on July 1 that year.