Judge Paul Lipscomb of Oregon's Marion County Circuit Court ruled Thursday that independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader's name should appear on Oregon's ballot for the November election. Last week, Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, an open supporter of Democratic nominee John Kerry, invalidated several thousand signatures on petitions supporting Nader's candidacy, ruling that the candidate was 218 names short of fulfilling the state's requirement of 15,306. The ruling will likely be appealed. AP has more. The Circuit Court ruling [PDF] is available at kgw.com. Nader's Oregon campaign website also has information on the proceedings, including an index of documents filed in the appeal.

Bushmaster Firearms and Bull's Eye Shooter Supply have agreed to pay more than $2 million in damages to the victims and families of the 2002 Washington DC-area sniper attacks as part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the survivors with the help of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. In a press release Thursday, the Brady Center calls the agreement a "landmark settlement" in preventing what it described as the gun industry's "hear no evil, see no evil" approach to gun violence. Bushmaster has issued its own statement disputing the Brady Center's claim of victory in the suit, decrying what it calls the group's "anti-gun agenda" and "second tier" legal counsel at the settlement conference. Voice of America has more.

Two senior Army generals said in testimony Thursday to the Senate Armed Services Committee that the CIA kept dozens of prisoners off official rosters at Abu Ghraib and other detention facilities in Iraq in order to hide them from Red Cross inspections. An August inquiry by three generals found eight cases of "ghost detainees," but senior Army investigator General Paul J. Kern told the Committee that the actual number could be as high as 100, although a precise number will likely never be known because no records were kept on many of the hidden detainees. In a prepared statement, Gen. Kern described the failings of the Defense Department to enforce adherence to interrogation procedures:

My investigation resulted in specific findings regarding the issue of 'ghost detainees' within Abu Ghraib. It is clear that the interrogation practices of other government agencies led to a loss of accountability at Abu Ghraib. DOD must document and enforce adherence by other government agencies with established DOD practices and procedures while conducting detainee interrogation operations at DOD facilities. This matter requires further investigation and, in accordance with the provisions of AR 381-10, Part 15, is being referred to the DOD Inspector General, as the DOD liaison with other government agencies for appropriate investigation and evaluation. Soldiers/ Sailors/ Airmen/ Marines should never be put in a position that potentially puts them at risk for noncompliance with the Geneva Convention or Laws of Land Warfare.

CNET is reporting that US District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco has denied a request by the Antitrust Division of the federal Department of Justice to issue an injunction against Oracle's hostile acquisition of business software maker PeopleSoft, effectively allowing the takeover to go ahead.

UPDATE: Read the full text of Judge Walker's ruling here [PDF]. Oracle has issued this press release on the decision. It offers additional information of the case and its takeover offer here. The US DOJ Antitrust Division provides a collection of US case filings in the proceeding.

AP is reporting that the House has voted 223-193 to block the Labor Department from carrying out new overtime rules. JURIST's Paper Chase provided coverage of the new rules when they took effect in August.

In Thursday's corporations and securities law news, chemical giant DuPont has agreed to a settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit alleging the company contaminated a West Virginia community's water supply with chemical PFOA, a key ingredient used in its Teflon products. The settlement, which a circuit judge must still approve, could be worth as much as $340 million but does not include any admission of liability by DuPont. Read the DuPont press release announcing the settlement here. Click for more background on the class action suit here. AP has more.

In other news, Computer Associates International chief financial officer, Jeff Clarke says he expects to reach a settlement with the US government in its investigation into the company's accounting practices. AP has more.... As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, Cracker Barrel announced it will pay $8.7 million as part of a settlement with the NAACP for its discriminatory practices toward black customers and employees. Read the Cracker Barrel press release announcing the settlement here. AP has more.... Time Warner Inc. is interested in a potential acquisition Adelphia Communications Corp., the cable company who put itself up for sale after filing for bankruptcy following the massive accounting scandal. Click to see Adelphia's plan for sale here[PDF]. AP has more.... Federal bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez denied Enron's request to block a lawsuit by Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. [PBGC] who is seeking to take control of the company's pension plans. The agency, which acts as a safety net for corporate pension plans, filed the lawsuit to make Enron pay the $320 million owed to former employees under four pension plans. Read the PBGC press release announcing the lawsuit here. Bloomberg has more.... As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, US District Judge Richard Owen sentenced former banker Frank Quattrone Wednesday to 18 months in prison, two years probation and a fine of $90,000. Read the original indictment against Quattrone here[PDF]. AP has more.

EU enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen has admonished Turkey for its plan to present a bill to its parliament next week that would return adultery to criminal status in the country, saying that it could affect Turkey's chances of joining the EU. Adultery was illegal in Turkey until 1996 when the Constitutional Court struck it down for penalizing women disproportionately more than men. Under the law, men were classified as adulterers if involved in long-term affairs, but women could be punished being unfaithful just once. Women's groups, commentators, and commissioner Verheugen agreed that the bill could be used to dwindle women's rights and push the secular Muslim state into a more Islamic legal model.

Verheugen said in an interview with the Turkish Vatan, "Turkey should not give the impression... that it is introducing Islamic elements into its legal system while engaged in a great project such as the EU." Verheugen has been in the country for several days and has made several comments on the importance of women's rights. An EU report due in October will formally assess Turkey's progress towards EU membership, the first EU candidate for full membership with a predominantly Muslim population.

BBC has more on the reaction to Turkey's bill. For background on Turkey's bid to join the EU, click here, or visit the Delegation of the EU to Turkey itself.

Thursday's Arizona Republic reports that the Phoenix City Council has decided that the city's library computers will be equipped with filters for adult users that block pornographic material, a filter many civil rights and First Amendment groups say is overly broad. The new policy, reportedly the most stringent for any major US city, was unanimously approved by the council in an attempt to make libraries "family-friendly" in the wake of an arrested child molester's admission that he downloaded child pornography there. Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, said that there are several possible plaintiffs for a court challenge and that the case is one that could go all the way to the US Supreme Court. The Arizona Republic has more. For news leading up to the council's ruling, click here. Visit the Phoenix Public Library system here.

Leon County Circuit Judge Kevin Davey has issued a temporary injunction barring state officials from putting Reform Party candidate Ralph Nader on the ballot. Judge Davey, who acted Wednesday night, has scheduled a second hearing for today to determine whether the case should go to trial. Secretary of State Glenda Hood had planned to certify ballots for the 67 counties today. Judge Davey sided with attorney for the Democratic party and an independent group of voters who argued that the Reform Party is not a viable party. Currently, Nader appears on the ballot of 23 states and hopes to be included on 45 ballots. South Florida's Sun Sentinel has more.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., which has restaurants in 41 states, announced a settlement to all discrimination lawsuits brought by or supported by the NAACP. Cracker Barrel will pay $8.7 million for discriminating against employees and customers. The case arose from a suit brought by 42 black customers in 16 states who alleged the company mistreated black patrons and segregated them to smoking sections. The announcement comes four months after the company settled a US Justice Department lawsuit accusing the company of similar discrimination at dozens of its restaurants in the south. Read the Cracker Barrel press release announcing the settlement with the NAACP here. Read the DOJ settlement press release here. AP has more.

Lawyers Steven Kay and Gillian Higgins have asked the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for permission to appeal their appointment as Slobodan Milosevic's defense counsel. In a letter to the court, the two lawyers said that Milosevic refuses to meet or talk with them and questioned whether depriving Milosevic of the right to defend himself could affect the overall fairness of the trial. However, Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson said Thursday that "if the opportunity for the accused to participate in the presentation of his defense is not grasped by him, the trial will nonetheless proceed and none can say there was injustice." BBC News has more. The ICTY provides background information on the Milosevic case.

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has rejected an appeal by the Prosecutor's Office to overturn a trial ruling that the six individuals, charged with various war crimes, be released pending an upcoming trial. The Appeals Chamber held that Trial Chamber acted correctly in holding that the accused would not pose a risk to witness, victim or person, and that they would reappear for their posted trial date. The full opinion is available here.... Two Belarusians were sentenced to jail for two years Wednesday on charges of defamation against the President of Belarus. The two were convicted based on their distribution of a pamphlet that was critical of the government, but did not mention the President by name. The Head of the Minsk office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe criticized the conviction as unduly harsh in light of the alleged crimes. Read an OSCE press release here.... Lithuania yesterday signed two more North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) documents: the Ottawa Agreement, which governs the rights and immunities of nationals working for NATO, and the Atomic Information Agreement, which governs the exchange and protection of atomic information among NATO members. The two documents represent the last of nine signings that were required in the original membership agreement for admitting Lithuania. The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a press release in English here.... The Secretary-General of the UN has announced the appointment of four new judges to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The judges are from Jordan, Sweden, Burkina Faso, and the Republic of Korea. The new ad litem judges are being added to ensure the smooth start of the two new trials scheduled in the ICTR for September. Read the UN press release here.... NGO Human Rights Watch Thursday accused China of using intimidation tactics to prevent the election of pro-democratic candidates in the upcoming Hong Kong elections. Read their report and an accompanying press release. China has angrily denied the allegations of threatening phone calls, letters and vandalism and arson against pro-democratic supporters. BBC has more.... The International Criminal Court has announced the election by the states-parties of a Deputy Prosecutor. Ms. Fatou Bensouda, an attorney in The Gambia and a prosecutor before the ICTR, was elected to the post and will begin on November 1st. A press release from the Coalition for the International Criminal Court is available here [PDF].... Finally, the Russian Parliament (the Duma) met Thursday to began working on new anti-terrorism legislation in the wake of a series of bombing and hostage-taking incidents. The Duma began by looking at immigration laws and security around airports, passengers, and their luggage. UPI has more.

Lawyers for two British Guantanamo Bay detainees, Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi, have renewed their call for the British government to secure the men's return. An American lawyer met with the detainees for the first time last week, but conditions put in place by the US government have restricted her from sharing details of the visit with the detainees' British lawyers and families. British lawyer Gareth Peirce has said that:

What we already know demands their immediate extraction from a process that has been deliberately constructed to apply maximum intense physical and mental pressure, in total isolation, from which there has been not a minute's relief for now two and a half years. Every additional day in Guantanamo Bay compounds the illegality of their detention. Once a process of coercive interrogation has been initiated, no subsequent steps can ever give it retrospective legitimacy.

As expected, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday morning that genocide has been committed in Darfur. From Powell's statement:

Since the US became aware of atrocities occurring in Sudan, we have been reviewing the Genocide Convention and the obligations it places on the Government of Sudan.

In July, we launched a limited investigation by sending a team to refugee camps in Chad. They worked closely with the American Bar Association and the Coalition for International Justice and were able to interview 1,136 of the 2.2 million people the UN estimates have been affected by this horrible violence. Those interviews indicated:

A consistent and widespread pattern of atrocities (killings, rapes, burning of villages) committed by jinjaweid and government forces against non-Arab villagers;

Three-fourths (74%) of those interviewed reported that the Sudanese military forces were involved in the attacks;

Villages often experienced multiple attacks over a prolonged period before they were destroyed by burning, shelling or bombing, making it impossible for villagers to return.

When we reviewed the evidence compiled by our team, along with other information available to the State Department, we concluded that genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the Government of Sudan and the jinjaweid bear responsibility -- and genocide may still be occurring....

We believe in order to confirm the true nature, scope and totality of the crimes our evidence reveals, a full-blown and unfettered investigation needs to occur. Sudan is a contracting party to the Genocide Convention and is obliged under the Convention to prevent and to punish acts of genocide. To us, at this time, it appears that Sudan has failed to do so.

Article VIII of the Genocide Convention provides that Contracting Parties "may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III."

Today, the US. is calling on the UN to initiate a full investigation. To this end, the US. will propose that the next UN Security Council Resolution on Sudan request a UN investigation into all violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law that have occurred in Darfur, with a view to ensuring accountability.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Loren McMaster has ruled that California's new law giving same-sex couples who register as domestic partners nearly all the legal benefits and responsibilities as married spouses does not violate Proposition 22, which defines marriage in California as only between a man and woman. Judge McMaster wrote:

[T]he parties' obvious fundamental dispute is whether a domestic partnership under the new statutes constitutes a "marriage." The court concludes that it does not. In the end, although the two relationships now share many, if not most, of the same functional attributes they are inherently distinct. And, despite the plaintiffs' arguments to the contrary, the least important of the distinctions between the two relationships is not the name given to the union. While "marriage" consists of rights and duties, the institution is not solely defined by those components. The word "marriage" imports much more than its entitlements as necessarily conceded by plaintiff....

[T]he bundle of rights, duties, benefits, and detriments of marriage have not remained constant in this state, or across our nation. The only element of "marriage" that has remained constant and immutable throughout our nation's history - until recently - has been that the legal union has consisted only of a man and a woman.

Consequently, it appears to this Court that "marriage" cannot be simply and absolutely defined by the bare bundle of rights and responsibilities conferred exclusively upon that relationship, because those components seem in continuous flux to meet the evolving mores, dynamics and demands of society. Instead, marriage is more essentially defined currently by the one historically constant element, i.e. the union between man and woman. A marriage is no less or more a marriage, when government adds or subtracts yet another restriction, duty, or benefit exclusive to the marital relationship. The relationship remains a "marriage", in name and nature, nonetheless. Thus, the title of "marriage" is much more than just a word, and it is this very special title that was preserved by Proposition 22.

The Nazi war crimes trial of 86-year-old Ladislav Niznansky opened Thursday in Munich. Niznansky has been charged with 164 counts of murder for allegedly heading the Slovak section of a Nazi unit that hunted resistance fighters and Jews after a 1944 uprising in Slovakia. According to the indictment, Niznansky "ordered that no living soul be allowed to escape and that anyone who tried to flee be shot." Niznansky's attorney has acknowledged that Niznansky was a member of the unit, but denied that he was involved in the shootings. AP has more. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the charges.

Members of Sudan's parliament said Thursday that US pressures over Darfur would encourage rebels in the region and spur other Sudanese separatist movements to take up arms. As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the US has circulated a draft resolution threatening punitive actions against Sudan if security in the Darfur region is not improved. Additionally, Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to speak about the Darfur situation at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting Thursday, where he is expected to make a determination that the violence in Darfur constitutes genocide. According to Sudan's Deputy Assembly Speaker Angelo Beda, the US actions could lead to a breakdown in the ongoing peace talks. Reuters has more.

In Thursday's US law and business press, the ABA Journal reports on a recent study raising doubts about the validity of the FBI's comparative bullet-lead-analysis evidence.... The Legal Intelligencer reports on a Third US Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that PA bad-faith claims against HMOs are preempted by ERISA.... The National Law Journal reports on AZ's new "Jury Patriotism Act," which dramatically increases juror pay in cases lasting longer than 10 days.... The Sacramento Business Journal reports on a lawsuit filed by the California First Amendment Coalition seeking fees disclosure by CalPERS regarding fees CalPERS pays to venture capital funds.... FindLaw's Writ has Cardozo law professor Marci Hamilton's column on the constitutionality of punitive damages awards against religious institutions.