In Tuesday's federal courts roundup, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that California cannot bar prisoners from accessing mail that contains downloads from the Internet. The court ruled the restriction was too broad to constitutionally serve the stated purpose of maintaining security. Reuters has the full story. Read the opinion here [PDF].... The US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that former Alabama football coach Mike Price was not entitled to a hearing before or after being fired by the university. The three judge panel ruled that dismissal of Price's defamation and wrongful termination suit was correct because Price never signed a written contract with the school. AP has the full story.... Judge Jack Schmetterer of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a suit filed by Kmart claiming that the retailer had been overcharged millions of dollars in property taxes by hundreds of municipalitites. Schmetterer ruled that Kmart failed to explain how the court had jurisdiction in the case. AP has the full story.... President Bush nominated Virginia Maria Hernandez Covington to the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida. AP has more information.... In addition to hearing arguments in the Guantanamo detention cases (reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase), the US Supreme Court weighed arguments between chip makers Intel and AMD. European regulators, responding to a complaint filed by AMD, are requesting that Intel turn over US documents for use in a European investigation. Reuters has the full story.

In international law news Tuesday, as reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss the situation in the Middle East. Algeria introduced a draft resolution that demands an end to Israel's "extra-judicial executions," a halt to "all acts of violence including all acts of terrorism" and adherence to international humanitarian law. US Deputy Ambassador to the UN James Cunningham has indicated that the resolution would likely be vetoed by the US, as was a March 25 draft resolution condemning Israel for its assassination of Ahmed Yassin. Read Cunningham's statement made during yesterday's meeting and this Security Council press release which includes summaries of other statements made at the meeting. AP has the full story.... International Court of Justice hearings continue today into whether the court has jurisdiction to hear claims filed by Serbia and Montenegro against eight NATO members. AFP has more.... The US Commission on Ocean Policy released a report assessing the state of coastal waters and making recommendations for a comprehensive national ocean policy. The report includes a recommendation that the US officially join the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The New York Times has more.... Finally, as previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, British Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed that there would be a UK referendum on the draft EU constitution.

click for previous international law news

In Tuesday's rights and liberties news, the California Senate Public Safety Committee has rejected a bill that would have posted a list of the state's sex offenders on the Internet. Supporters laud the list's ease of access to the public and attendant safety effects, but similar legislation has been denied seven times on privacy grounds. Most states now post their lists on the Internet. AP has more.... Following up on breaking news previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the Multnomah County Circuit Court of Oregon earlier today struck down the Oregon law that forbade same-sex marriages, ordering the state to recognize the nearly 3,000 marriages already performed, but also ordering Multnomah County to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples for the time being, saying that it could resume if the legislature does not find a solution for a non-discriminatory marriage practice within 90 days of the next legislative session. The court did not recommend a solution, but left the door open for either an instatement of same-sex marriage or a civil union. Read the opinion here, and an ACLU press release here.

click for previous rights and liberties news

A spokesman for the Iraqi Governing Council announced Tuesday that eight judges and four prosecutors have been named to the Iraqi Special Tribunal for Crimes Against Humanity set up by statute late last year to try Saddam Hussein and other high Iraqi officials accused of crimes against the Iraqi people. The head of the tribunal is US-educated Iraqi lawyer Salem Chalabi, nephew of Iraqi National Congress head and senior Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi. In his own right Salem is also the founder of the Iraqi International Law Group set up in June 2003 as "Iraq's first international law firm" (for more on the IILG, see a September 2003 report in the UK's Guardian newspaper). US investigators and prosecutors are assisting in the development of the case against Hussein. No trial date has been set. AP has more. Shortly after the Iraqi Special Tribunal was set up in December, Northwestern University law professor Anthony D'Amato wrote a JURIST op-ed in which he considered the prospect of trying Saddam.

The Bush administration announced Tuesday that it had drastically scaled back a plan to revise overtime regulations, claiming its goal was to increase protections and make more white-collar workers eligible, not to take away extra pay. Read a US Department of Labor press release and review the new FairPay plan here. AP has more.

In Indonesia, the Golkar party of former President Suharto on Tuesday named his protege, former Armed Forces Chief and Defense Minister General Wiranto (see a BBC profile from 1999), as its candidate in the upcoming July 5 presidential election. The Jakarta Post has more. In 2003 Wiranto was indicted by the UN for rights abuses - including murder, deportation and persecution - committed after the former Indonesian territory of East Timor voted for independence in 1999.

In Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, WorldCom Inc. emerged from bankruptcy on Tuesday by walking away from $35 billion in debt and changing its name to MCI. Most of the people who contributed to WorldCom's downfall are gone from the company. Read the MCI press release announcing the emergence from bankruptcy here. View the webcast of MCI CEO Michael Capellas thanking its customers here. AP has more.

In other news, Citigroup chairman Sanford Weill and his potential successor Charles Prince survived a challenge by the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the New York State Common Retirement Fund to kick them off the board. The two funds were to withhold their 48.7 million shares from Weill because of the $400 million fine paid in the Wall Street research settlement. Weill was retained with close to 94% of the vote. AP has more.... In other WorldCom news, the SEC filed a brief on behalf of investors in the WorldCom securities class action which says analysts can affect the price of a company's stock and bonds and may be held accountable for misrepresentations they may make. The New York Times has more.... Kansas City-based residential mortgage lender NovaStar Financial Inc. announced that the SEC is conducting an informal inquiry into the company. The investigation may be related to several shareholder class-action lawsuits claiming the company inflated its growth potential to shareholders. Read the NovaStar press release announcing the investigation here. The Kansas City Business Journal has more.... Mark Whiston, chief executive of Janus Capital Group Inc., resigned today amid allegations of improper trading at the mutual funds company. Board Chairman Steve Scheid will replace Whiston effective immediately. Read the Janus press release here[PDF]. AP has more.... Darleen Druyun, a former US Air Force acquisitions official, pleaded guilty to conspiracy for discussing a job with Boeing Co. while still working on its business dealings with the Air Force. Druyun will cooperate with prosecutors who are still investigating former Boeing CFO Michael Sears. Reuters has more.

Also, European drugmaker Aventis has filed a complaint against smaller rival Sanofi-Synthelabo's hostile takeover bid to ensure full compliance with US securities laws. Read the Aventis press release announcing the legal action here. Reuters has more.... A former Goldman Sachs personal assistant was found guilty on 20 counts of using false checks and obtaining money transfers by deception which totaled over 4 million pounds. Reuters has more.

click for previous corporations and securities law news

KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon is reporting that a Multnomah County judge has ordered the country (which includes the city of Portland) to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

A leading German prosecutor said Tuesday that if evidence obtained by US interrogators from captured Al Qaeda figure Ramzi bin al-Shaibah were led in the German case against Mounir El Motassadeq it would probably be successfully challeged by defense lawyers on grounds that it was obtained under torture and was therefore inadmissible under German law. Andrea Shultz told Reuters: "The defense would stand up and say: 'This is a clear violation of [German criminal code paragraph] 136a [prohibiting "mistreatment, exhaustion, physical intervention, administration of substances, torture, deception or hypnosis'] because the United States have said more than once they were using stress and duress techniques for questioning al Qaeda suspects... Everyone knows this is a technique which is not allowed by German law... This is a lost game from the beginning." Motassadeq was convicted in 2003 in connection with the September 11 hijackings but later won an appeal and is now free on bail pending retrial. Learn more about US use of stress and duress techniques from the DC-based Crimes of War Project. A 2003 Human Rights Watch report noted that the US State Department has repeatedly criticized other regimes around the world for using such techniques. Reuters has more.

The US Supreme Court has released recorded audio of this morning's arguments in the Guantanamo cases. Listen here via C-SPAN 3. Meanwhile AP reports that on an early morning campiagn stop in Buffalo New York, President Bush said that allowing the courts to intervene in executive branch and military decisions on the capture and handling of enemy combatants is dangerous.

UPDATE - Press reports on the oral arguments are now starting to appear. For example, read this on AP, quoting Attorney John Gibbons arguing on behalf of the detainees that the US has created a "lawless enclave" at the camp. Solicitor General Theodore Olsen has argued for the government that the US courts have no jurisdiction over the prisoners since the US is "at war" and the prisoners are not US citizens.

BBC News is reporting that 21 people have been killed in a mortar attack on a detention facility in Baghdad, according to US military officials.

The US Supreme Court hears two joined cases Tuesday - Rasul v. Bush and al Odah v. United States - raising the question of whether United States courts have jurisdiction to consider legal appeals filed on behalf of foreign citizens held by the United States military at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Read a short case summary from Duke Law School's Program in Public Law. The Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the original petitions in the Rasul case, offers background materials here. In an unusual move reflecting the importance of the cases, the Supreme Court has announced that it will release the recordings of the oral arguments made this morning shortly after their conclusion - the audio will be available on C-SPAN at approximately 11:15 AM. Listen here.

In a statement to Parliament Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed that any new constitution for Europe agreed to by the member states of the EU would be put before UK voters for final approval in a referendum. The Prime Minister said:

Provided the treaty embodies the essential British positions, we shall agree to it.

Once agreed, either at the June Council which is our preference - or subsequently, Parliament should debate it in detail and decide upon it. Then let the people have the final say.

The electorate should be asked for their opinion when all our questions have been answered, when all the details are known, when the legislation has been finally tempered and scrutinised in the House, and when Parliament has debated and decided.

Read the Prime Minister's full statement as released by 10 Downing Street. BBC News has more.

In Tuesday's media and information law news, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports that at least 300 Nepalese journalists were arrested and some of them beaten over the weekend in a series of protests. Authorities said the arrests were made because the protesters were preventing police from doing their job. Nepalese Prime Minister expressed concern over the events and promised to uphold journalists' freedom to report. The Federation of Nepalese Journalists demanded a public apology for the arrests. RSF has more.

In Tuesday's US law and business press, the Recorder reports on the recently concluded bench trial over the Partial-Birth Abortion Act.... The National Law Journal reports on a FL attorney with an unusual specialty: suing pest control companies.... The Charlotte Business Journal reports that a senior Bank of America Corp. foreign-exchange executive has sued the bank, alleging sex discrimination in the bank's promotion policies.... The New York Law Journal reports on how older new attorneys bring talents and life experiences to the table.... FindLaw's Writ features Brooklyn law professor Anthony J. Sebok's column on the basis for the drunk driving death lawsuit against Coors Brewing Co.

click for the previous US law and business press review

In Tuesday's foreign press, The Australian reports that Labor Party leader Mark Latham has set out an aggressive timetable for Australians to vote as soon as 2007 to become a republic under a reform program offering voters the chance to transform the Constitution and usher in a directly elected president. The opposition leader favors a direct election for the president but does not believe a constitutional convention is necessary.... In Singapore, The Straits Times reports that parliament approved changes to the Constitution that will allow children born to Singaporean mothers overseas to enjoy the same right to citizenship by descent as those with Singaporean fathers. The changes are key to the government's plan to boost citizenship population in the face of a severe baby shortage.

On April 20, 1971, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education that busing of school students could be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.