US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled Wednesday that detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base must be entitled to meet with lawyers freely. In her opinion, Judge Kollar-Kotelly rejected the Bush administration's attempt to allow detainees to meet with attorneys only while monitored. Judge Kollar-Kotelly said that monitoring detainees' meetings with their attorneys would violate their attorney-client privilege. Read the opinion here [PDF]. AP has more.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the school desegregation policy of the town of Lynn, Massachusetts, is unconstitutional because it considers race as a factor in determining whether students can transfer out of their neighborhood school districts. The First Circuit's ruling reversed a lower court's determination to reject a lawsuit brought by parents whose children were denied a transfer because of their race. According to the First Circuit's opinion, race always should be a "last resort." Read the First Circuit's opinion here [PDF]. AP has more.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the world's population of marine mammals do not have standing to sue President George W. Bush or Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The lawsuit, filed by attorney and animal activist Lanny Sinkin, was brought on behalf of the world's population of whales, dolphins and porpoises, described by their attorney as the Cetacean Community. The lawsuit claimed that the US Navy violated the Endangered Species Act because it damaged marine mammal tissue through the Navy's use of long range, low-frequency sonar. In its opinion, the Ninth Circuit held that the reason animals could not sue was not merely the fact that they were animals, but that they had not been granted the right to sue. Read the Ninth Circuit's opinion [PDF] online. Reuters has more here.

In Wednesday's environmental law news, the town of Carlstadt NJ has asked the Army Corps of Engineers to issue a stop work order and refuse permits to the developers of the Xanadu entertainment complex. Xanadu, a $1.3 billion project, is set to be built in the parking lot of the Continental Airlines Arena in the Meadowlands. Opponents of the project say that relocating the project site to a different section of the Meadowlands will save seven acres of wetlands. The Jersey Journal has background. Reuters has more.... In other news, the EPA has issued warnings to eleven California and one Nevada waste transportation companies for failing to notify the EPA that they were shipping waste containing PCBs, in violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act. The EPA press release is here.... The USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service seeks comments on an interim rule that restricts imports of pine wood products from Canada. The rule requires that pine trees, shrubs, logs, mulch, chips and other products be inspected and certified to be free of the Pine Shoot Beetle (Tomicus piniperda), a pest that causes significant damage to young pine trees. The beetle was first discovered in Canada 10 years ago and is slowly spreading into the northeast US. The restrictions are authorized by the Plant Protection Act[PDF]. Comments can be made until December 20 here.... The DOI seeks comments on a proposed rule that outlines the procedures that museums and federal agencies must follow in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. Museums and agencies would have to provide notice and inventories to American Indian and Native Hawaiian tribes for any new collections of human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony. Such objects would be returned to the tribe unless the museum or agency can prove right of possession. Comments can be made until January 18 here.

Court-appointed lawyers for former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic, currently on trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, are set to argue against their own appointment before the Appeals Chamber of the court on Thursday. The lawyers are seeking release from their assignment on the grounds that Milosevic, who conducted his own defense until removed for health reasons last month, is not co-operating with them, disabling them from mounting an effective case. JURIST will carry the arguments in the Appeal Chamber live Thursday morning on our front page beginning at 3:30 AM ET (9:30 AM local time; the webcast is on a 30-minute tape delay). Read the ICTY Trial Court's ruling allowing the lawyers to appeal their appointment here, More details on tomorrow's court activity are available from the ICTY here. JURIST's Paper Chase provides background coverage of the Milosevic trial here.

The UN reported Wednesday that crimes by pro-government Janjaweed militias in the Darfur region of Sudan are continuing. Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for Jan Pronk, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's envoy to Sudan, said rape cases are in the hundreds and are still increasing, supporting statements made Tuesday by UNICEF officials. The UN Security Council, which has already threatened sanctions against Sudan, now demands that the Sudanese government arrest anyone committing looting, robbery, burning, or rape, regardless of "whether the culprit is from the Janjaweed or the Popular Forces leaders." AFP has more. Read the text of Pronk's latest full report to the Security Council from October 5. Follow recent news on the crisis in Darfur on JURIST's Paper Chase here.

FCC chairman Michael Powell has announced that he will introduce a proposal to the FCC for broad federal regulatory authority over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services within a month. Speaking at an industry conference in Boston Tuesday, Powell said that leaving authority to the states would create a patchwork of regulations that would slow the emergence of the market. Powell stressed his belief in minimal regulations, but said that questions regarding the service's taxation and 911 connectivity are best left to the federal government because the technology transcends geographic barriers. Read Powell's address here [PDF]. AP has more. The FCC has background on VoIP, including a fact sheet [PDF] and previous decisions.

A security detainee has died while in detention at Camp Bucca, Iraq, US Central Command reported Wednesday. Detainees notified guards of the male 26-year-old's ailing condition Tuesday afternoon, and medics attempted to perform life-saving measures, but the as-yet unidentified detainee passed away Tuesday evening. The detainee had not previously been under medical treatment at the facility. Read the Central Command press release here. Military sources concluded in June of this year that more than a third of the prisoners who have died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan have been shot, strangled or beaten by US personnel, according to death certificates. An investigation and autopsy from this latest death are pending. Read a USA Today story here. JURIST's Paper Chase has more on detainee abuses here.

In Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, US District Judge Sim Lake ordered former Enron chairman Ken Lay be tried with former executives Jeffrey Skilling and Richard Causey on charges linked to the energy giant's collapse. The judge denied requests by the ex-Enron executives to be tried separately on the Enron-related charges. However, Judge Lake did rule that Lay's four criminal charges relating to his personal banking activities will be tried separately which will force Lay to be a defendant in two trials. The trial date for either trial has not been set. Read the indictment against Lay, Skilling, and Causey here [PDF]. Read the SEC indictment against the three executives here [PDF]. Read Ken Lay's response to the charges here. JURIST's Paper Chase has ongoing coverage of the Enron trials. The Houston Chronicle has more and more coverage of the Enron collapse.

In other news, KMPG will settle with the SEC over charges of improper conduct in the firm's audit of Gemstar-TV Guide Internation's financial statments. KMPG will pay $10 million, the largest payment ever by an accounting firm. Read the SEC press release here. AP has more.... The SEC will hear proposals on liberalizing the "quiet period" rules which is what companies can say before its initial public offering. Reuters has more.... Citigroup announced the removal of three of its most senior executives in a response to the company's regulatory problems in Japan. The Financial Times has more.... Dutch financial services group ING announced New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has asked the group to provide information related to his investigation into the fees paid by some US insurers to brokers for new business. Read the ING press release announcing the request here. Reuters has more.

The European Union said on Wednesday that the EU executive will be referring Britain to the European Court of Justice over excessive penalties that Britain is imposing on its citizens who bring in large amounts of tobacco and alcohol. Although EU rules call for the free movement of goods, and allow citizens to shop abroad and bring those goods home for personal use, British customs agents have been seizing the goods, and cars, of citizens who bring back more than a certain quota. It is commonplace for British citizens to travel to France, and other countries, to avoid high excise taxes and purchase tobacco and alcohol for a much lower price. EU spokesman Jonathan Todd called the British practice "illegal." British Treasury Minister John Healey responded by saying that the EU is unfairly singling out the UK. Reuters has more.

A veterans group has filed an FCC complaint against Sinclair Broadcast Group over its plans to air a movie attacking Democratic candidate John Kerry's opposition to the Vietnam War. The group, the Veterans Institute for Security and Democracy, filed the complaint Tuesday, arguing that the program sought to influence the outcome of the election. SBG announced Wednesday, however, that it has scrapped plans to air the movie in full, although it still intends to show parts of in during a news special titled "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media." SBG backed off its plans to air the film after several shareholder complaints were filed Tuesday, including one threatened by William Lerach, prominent class-action attorney and Democratic party backer. The Los Angeles Times has more on SBG's decision to pull the film. US Newswire has more on the VISD filing.

The minority Turkish Cypriot government has resigned after months of inaction following a failed attempt to reunite the island. Rauf Denktash, leader of the Turkish republic on the island, accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Ali Talat and his administration, although Talat will remain in his post until a new government is formed. A UN plan to unify Cyprus failed last spring after Greek Cypriots rejected the plan in a referendum. BBC News has more.

With less than two weeks until the presidential election, both political parties are preparing courses of legal action should the results of the election be close or disputed. Both parties are assembling task forces of lawyers to monitor the polls for potential voter fraud, and both major candidates have recruited attorneys who participated in the 2000 election litigation. Electionline.org has a report on legal changes for the 2004 elections [PDF] that may cause problems. The Washington Post has more on the legal preparations.

Meanwhile, a New Mexico Republican party official has said that if the Nov. 2 presidential election is close, the party will likely file lawsuits challenging the results, The Hill reports. Greg Graves, executive director of the NM GOP, said as many as 15,000 to 20,000 fraudulent votes could be cast in the state. Officials struggled to cope with 150,000 new registrations for the upcoming election, many with incomplete information. JURIST's Paper Chase provides ongoing coverage of election legal issues as they arise.

The terrorist organizations run by Muslim extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, including Jama'at al-Tawhid wa'al-Jihad (BBC News profile here), were added to the Sanctions List of the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee this week. The decision to add the group followed an official request of the US government that the UN Sanctions Committee include al-Zarqawi's organizations on the list of individual's and entities deemed to be terrorists. The decision was made Monday and the Committee announced its actions Tuesday. The Committee operates under Security Council Resolution 1267 [PDF] (expanded by later resolutions) and requires member-states to freeze financial assets, deny travel rights, withhold arms sales, and attempt to bring criminal prosecution against any individual found on the Committee's list. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the US request. Reuters has more.... Russian President Vladimir Putin (official website) has again called for judicial reform of the domestic Russian courts. In a statement made Wednesday, Putin said that the experience and tradition of Russia's judges gave the judicial system potential, but that potential needed to be updated to allow Russia to move forward in meeting the demands of a market economy and the development of democratic institutions. Putin called on the judges and justices of the Russian judiciary to prepare suggestions and ideas to be presented at the National Congress of Justices scheduled for November 30. Putin himself suggested that the judiciary consider ways to tighten and strengthen anti-terrorism laws. Itar-Tass has more.... A Bangladeshi court handed down sentence Wednesday in a thirty year old case involving the murder of the aides of assassinated president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman while in jail. Judge Mohammad Motiur Rahman of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court sentenced three of the former military officers involved to death, twelve senior military officials were sentenced to life imprisonment, and five people were acquitted. Only three of the twelve officials given life sentences were present; police believe the rest have fled the country after being sentenced to death for the assassination of Rahman. Kerala News has more.... The European Court on Human Rights handed down a decision Tuesday in the case of Varli & Others v. Turkey in which it held that the Turkish government had violated Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights when it had convicted Varli and five others of propaganda against the government. Varli and five other Kurdish citizens of Turkey issued a press release in their positions as leaders of trade unions that was highly critical of the Turkish government. The Turkish government responded by trying them on criminal charges of 'disseminating propaganda against the indivisibility of the State.' The ECHR held that the Turkish government had failed to present valid reasons for the interference of the applicants Article 10 right to freedom of expression. The Court awarded damages to the applicants. Read the official ECHR press release here. Kurdish Media has more.

A district judge has refused a request by the Federal Election Commission to stay an earlier ruling striking down rules set by the FEC under the new campaign-finance laws. Although refusing to stay her earlier ruling, District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly did clarify that the current rules would remain in effect until the FEC drafts new rules. In the ruling, issued Tuesday, Kollar-Kotelly wrote:

Upon a careful consideration of these filings and the relevant legal authority, the Court
declines to stamp the Commission’s "business-as-usual" tactics and request for delay with the judicial imprimatur of approval. Rather, the Court concludes that the FEC has failed to meet the stringent standards required to justify the extraordinary remedy of a stay pending appeal and therefore shall deny the Commission’s motion.

• FEC seeks stay of court ruling against campaign-finance rules
• FEC announces appeal of campaign finance ruling
• Federal judge strikes down political fund-raising rules
• Campaign reform backers sue FEC over 527 groups

As anticipated last week on JURIST's Paper Chase, US Army Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick pleaded guilty Wednesday to five charges of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, including dereliction of duty and assault. Frederick will be sentenced at a hearing Thursday. Under a plea deal between Frederick and the military, some other charges were dropped. The maximum sentence for the charges is 18 years in prison. Frederick is only the second soldier convicted in the abuse scandal and the highest-ranking soldier to be charged. In May, Spc. Jeremy Sivits pleaded guilty to abuse charges and is serving a one-year sentence. The original charges against Frederick are available here. JURIST's Paper Chase has ongoing coverage of the legal aftermath of Abu Ghraib. AP has more.

UPDATE: A US Central Command press release on the guilty plea and proceedings in the sentencing phase of Sgt. Frederick's military trial is now online here.

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, October 20.

On Capitol Hill, the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will hold an 11 AM ET conference for the 9-11 Recommendations Implementation Act (HR 10). Watch a live webcast (via C-SPAN).

Today is the deadline for voter registration in Wisconsin.... In Washington DC, the National Press Club is hosting a forum on Ralph Nader's struggle for ballot access and his impact on the November election. Watch a live webcast beginning at 6:30 PM ET (via C-SPAN).

The US Mission to the United Nations will hold a 3 PM ET press conference on human trafficking. Representatives from the US State Department and Department of Homeland Security will speak. Watch a live webcast.

The trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic continues at 9 AM local time today at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague. Watch a webcast beginning at 9:30 AM local time (3:30 AM ET); for witness protection, the webcast is on a 30-minute tape delay. The ICTY has background on the case.... Also today at the ICTY, the trial of Momcilo Krajisnik continues. Watch a webcast beginning at 2:45 PM local time (8:45 AM ET); for witness protection, the webcast is on a 30-minute tape delay. The ICTY has case information.