[JURIST] A jury found former South Carolina lieutenant governor Earle Morris guilty of 22 counts of securities fraud Thursday. While Morris was chairman of Carolina Investors he told investors to keep their money with the company even though he knew it was going under. Carolina Investors subsequently went through the largest bankruptcy in South Carolina history in 2003, causing more than 8,000 investors to lose more than $278 million. Morris, now 76, will be sentenced Friday and can get up to five years in prison for each count and $1 million in fines. AP has more. The South Carolina Greenville News has extensive local coverage of the bankruptcy and the trial.

[JURIST] US Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters said Thursday during an intellectual property conference [PDF] at the John Marshall School of Law that Congress would not enact the Inducing Infringement Copyrights Act [PDF], also known as the Induce Act, before the Thanksgiving holiday. The Act is Congress’ attempt at confronting peer-to-peer networks filled with pirated music, movies and other media by prohibiting the intentional inducement of another person to violate copyright law. CNET News.com has more here.

[JURIST] Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have unanimously chosen Senator Arlen Specter to be chairman next year. Specter's chairmanship had been in doubt after the GOP moderate warned Bush against nominations based solely on a judge's conservatism or opposition to abortion rights, suggesting that confirmation of such nominees would be difficult. Specter has now promised "quick committee hearings and early committee votes" for Bush nominees, telling a news conference he has "no reason to believe" he would not be able to support any of the president's nominees. AP has more. C-SPAN has posted recorded video of a GOP Senate Judiciary Committee news conference here.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice has released its final report [PDF] on the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. The fund, created by Congress to offer families and injured survivors a faster alternative to litigation, attracted 2880 out of a possible 2973 death claims and a further 2680 injury claims. The final report includes a demographic portrait of those who died, most of whom were working-class or middle-class, relatively young, and male: 45% earned less than $25,000 a year and nearly two-thirds earned under $100,000; nearly 40% were in their thirties, compared to less than 1% over seventy, and 76% were men. Compensation, which was based on each victim's earnings, assets and insurance policies, ranged from a guaranteed minimum of $250,000 per victim to over $8 million. The International Herald Tribune has more on the inequities uncovered in the report; fund special master Kenneth Feinberg noted in an interview Wednesday that it might have been preferable "to provide the same amount for all eligible claimants" in order to avoid divisiveness among surviving relatives.

[JURIST] The traditional British fox hunt is to be banned after the House of Commons Thursday invoked the rarely-used Parliament Act of 1949 to force through the ban over the opposition of the House of Lords. Labour party Ministers had proposed an amendment to delay the ban until summer 2006, but Peers in the House of Lords, intent on demonstrating their opposition to the ban regardless of when it would go into effect, rejected the amendment by a vote of 153 to 114. The use of the Parliament Act - invoked by the House of Commons for only the fourth time since its passage - means that the ban will now go into effect in early 2005, before the next election. Baroness Mallalieu, a life peer, Labour party member and outspoken opponent of the hunting ban, framed the debate as being between maintaining "our principles" or supporting what she described as a "grubby bill". The Guardian has more. Hunting supporters have promised a court challenge [PDF] to the use of the 1949 Parliament Act, saying it is invalid because it was never itself passed by the House of Lords.

[JURIST] The first divorce in Chilean history took place Thursday as the country's new marital code went into effect, replacing the code that had been in force since 1884. Until the passage of law No. 19947, Chile was one of only two democracies in the world not to allow divorce; it is now permitted in the case of breach of marital duties, such as infidelity or domestic violence, or after a period of separation whose length depends on whether one party or both wish to end the marriage. Sixty days of marital counseling is also required. Chilean legislators first proposed a law to allow divorce in 1914. Over the years the topic was debated [in Spanish] repeatedly without success, and the law taking effect today was only passed after nearly a decade of debate. AP has more. From Santiago, El Mercurio has local coverage in Spanish. The Chilean Library of Congress has details [also in Spanish] and background information.

[JURIST] The World Trade Organization has entered an interim verdict against an EU effort to prevent food manufacturers from using European regional names - such as Champagne and Parma - to market copycat versions of more than 600 wines, cheeses, meats, and other food products that originated in Europe. Unlike trademarks, EU designations indefinitely protect food and drink names associated with a region of origin. The WTO ruling is not an absolute loss for the EU; the US and the EU can both comment on the decision within the next few months, before the ruling - the details of which are currently confidential - is published. At that point either side can appeal, a process that may take three months or more. Bloomberg reports that the WTO found EU designation rules to be discriminatory because non-European producers cannot register their products in the EU, which may mean that compromise on that point could influence the WTO's final ruling. BBC News has more, including background on the dispute.

[JURIST] In Thursday's corporations and securities law news, Enron Corp. has closed the $2 billion sale of its interest in three natural gas pipelines to CCE Holdings LLC, a joint venture of Southern Union Co. and GE Commercial Finance Energy Financial Services. The sale was approved in September by US Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzales. Read the Southern Union press release here. The $1.25 billion sale of Portland General Electric, Enron's Pacific Northwest utility, to a holding company backed by Texas Pacific Group is still pending and only awaits approval by Oregon regulators. Judge Gonzalez approved that sale in July. Read Enron's final bankruptcy plan here. Read the court-appointed bankruptcy examiner's final report here [PDF]. Paper Chase has continuing coverage of the Enron collapse. AP has more.

In other news, Qwest Communications has began to negotiate a settlement over stockholder lawsuits which allege the company misled its investors. The settlement could reach upwards of $700 million. Qwest paid a $250 million fine to settle claims of massive accounting fraud with the SEC just last month. The Rocky Mountain News has more.... California Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced Franklin Templeton Investments has agreed to pay $18 million to settle claims that the company failed to tell investors it paid brokers who recommended its funds. Read the California AG press release here. Read the Franklin Templeton press release here. AP has more.... Italian bank Sanpaolo and Franco-Belgian group Dexia have confirmed talks of a potential merger or an asset management deal. A merger between the banks would create Europe's fourth-largest bank. The Financial Times has more.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Russian authorities Thursday arrested a manager at a key subsidiary of Yukos on charges of embezzling $766,000 which was disguised as charitable contributions and are likely to enhance the already sizable back taxes owed by the company. Paper Chase has background on Russia's case against Yukos. AFP has more.... CALPERS, the largest pension fund in the US, announced it will tender its shares of PeopleSoft to Oracle thereby accepting the hostile takeover bid. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Russian authorities Thursday arrested a manager at a key subsidiary of Yukos on charges of embezzling $766,000 which was disguised as charitable contributions. Also today, the Prosecutor General's office announced the issuance of an international arrest warrant for Yukos lawyer Nikolai Gololobov on charges of misappropriating billions of rubles worth of shares in 1998. These developments are likely to ratchet up pressure on the troubled oil giant which still faces total tax claims of $14 billion for 2000-2002 and which are likely to grow, according to reports. Interfax reports that Russia's tax authorities will soon charge the oil giant with a new back tax bill for 2003 which will exceed the amount of its $6.76 billion claim for 2002. Paper Chase has background on Russia's case against Yukos. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Bush administration is planning an overhaul of the tax code with an eye toward drastically cutting or even eliminating outright taxes on savings and investment, according to Thursday's Washington Post. The plans are unlikely to include a flat tax or a national sales tax which were raised as possibilities during the presidential campaign. A bipartisan panel will draft a fundamental tax reform proposal. The administration will likely push amendments which will shield interest, dividends and capitals gains from taxation and expand tax breaks for business investment. To pay for these changes, the administration is considering scrapping the business tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance and eliminating the deduction of state and local taxes on federal income tax returns. The Post has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that according to Republican Party sources, Senator Arlen Specter is drafting a written pledge that as the new head of the Senate Judiciary Committee he would provide timely hearings and quick votes for Bush judicial nominees.

[JURIST] The Illinois Supreme Court Thursday unanimously dismissed two lawsuits which accused gunmakers of knowingly allowing their weapons to fall into criminal hands. The two Illinois lawsuits, filed by the city of Chicago and victims of gun violence, had accused Smith & Wesson, Beretta USA Corp., Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc., and other gunmakers and suburban gun shops of creating a public nuisance by putting guns in the metropolitan market knowing they would end up in the city, which bans handguns. The court found no legal basis to hold the gunmakers responsible:

In sum, we hold that plaintiffs' public nuisance claims against both the manufacturer and the dealer defendants must be dismissed. Even granting, arguendo, that plaintiffs can establish that a public right has been infringed upon by defendants' conduct, their allegations of negligence are not supported by any recognized duty and we have declined their invitation to recognize such a duty. Further, their allegations of intentional conduct are an insufficient basis for public nuisance liability as a matter of law. City of Chicago, slip op. at 64. Finally, the defendants' conduct is not a legal cause of the alleged nuisance because the claimed harm is the aggregate result of numerous unforeseeable intervening criminal acts by third parties not under defendants' control.

[JURIST] A Providence television reporter, Jim Taricani of NBC'sw WJAR-TV, was convicted of criminal contempt Thursday for refusing to reveal a source who gave him an FBI videotape showing a city official taking a bribe. Taricani, who faces up to six months in prison, broke no laws by repeatedly airing the tape, but a special prosecutor was appointed to find the leak after a court order which prevented any dissemination of tapes connected with a federal corruption probe into the former mayor of Providence. US District Judge Ernest Torres indicated the leak was meant to disrupt the investigation and deprive the defendants of a fair trial. Judge Torres had found Taricani in civil contempt for refusing to reveal the source and imposed a $1,000-a-day fine until he did. WJAR paid the $85,000 fine for its reporter until Judge Torres suspended the fine two weeks ago. Taricani would be the first reporter to serve time for a criminal contempt charge related to his reporting duties. Tarsini has issued this statement, available on the WJAR website. WJAR has issued its own statement defending its reporter's behavior:

Jim Taricani, a respected journalist and heart-transplant recipient, should not be treated as a criminal for doing his job. NBC 10 has stood by him and supports his decision to not to disclose his source. No reporter should have to pay such a terribly high price for honestly and legally reporting the news.

[JURIST] Myanmar's military government announced Thursday that it will release almost 4000 prisoners who may have been wrongly imprisoned by the recently disbanded National Intelligence Bureau. State radio said Thursday that the prisoners would be released after a conclusion was made "that the National Intelligence Bureau may have used irregular and improper means to put them into prison." Myanmar's government dismantled the intelligence agency last month, saying the unit was no longer relevant as the country moved towards democracy. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Weighing in on the debate over changes to the federal sentencing guidelines, the Justice Department has suggested that minimum sentences should remain the same but that judges should be given the flexibility to give longer sentences, up the maximum as defined by Congress. The US Sentencing Commission held two days of public hearings this week on possible changes to the federal sentencing guidelines. The Supreme Court is currently considering whether the guidelines must be replaced because they call for judges, not juries, to consider factors that add additional time to a sentence. In testimony before the Sentencing Commission, Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray said:

Under another proposal, the guidelines minimum would remain the same as is the case under the current guidelines, but the maximum would be the statutory maximum as set by Congress. This would make clear that a defendant is always subject to the maximum statutory penalty defined by Congress based upon the jury verdict alone. The sentencing guidelines would still work in the same manner they have for 20 years – identifying aggravating and mitigating factors that will be determined by a judge and that will help cabin judicial discretion to bring a more certain, consistent and just result.

While we do not endorse this or any proposal at this time, there appear to be many advantages to the proposal. This system would preserve the traditional roles of judges and juries in criminal cases. It would retain the role of the Sentencing Commission. It would be relatively easy to legislate, easy in practice, the results would replicate the current guidelines, and it would fulfill the important sentencing policies embodied in the Sentencing Reform Act. We do not believe that a new enlarged sentencing range will result in more severe sentences, as data from the Sentencing Commission show that under the current sentencing system, 99.2% of sentences imposed are within or below the sentencing range. Only 0.8% of sentences imposed are above the sentencing range. This is strong evidence that judges are not likely to sentence outside of the current ranges. Under this proposal, advisory maximum sentences would be issued as part of the guidelines manual, which would give district and circuit courts across the country the benefit of the Commission’s collective wisdom and statistical analysis regarding sentencing and would provide a suggested, though not legally mandated, maximum sentence similar to the current maximum. In addition, the Department would be free to issue an internal policy to require prosecutors to recommend a sentence within a certain range in the ordinary case.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously Thursday that governments must consult with the Assembly of First Nations before developing land that aboriginal groups claim to own, but that governments need not receive consent before using land. The Court said that the duty of consultation applied even if title to land has not been proven through courts or treaties and said that developers aren't required to consult with First Nations. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote that "the commitment is to a meaningful process of consultation" and that aboriginal claimants "must not frustrate the Crown's reasonable good faith attempts, nor should they take unreasonable positions to thwart government from making decisions or acting in cases where, despite meaningful consultation, agreement is not reached." Read the Court's opinions in Taku River Tlingit First Nation v. British Columbia and Haida Nation v. British Columbia. CTV News has more.

[JURIST] In an attempt to resolve division among UN member states, Italy has put forth a compromise proposal for a global treaty on human cloning. The UN General Assembly's Legal Committee (the Sixth Committee) has been debating two proposals, one from Costa Rica that would ban all human cloning, and one from Belgium that would ban reproductive cloning but allow states to use embryos for stem cell and other research. Italy's proposal would call on countries to ban attempts to create "human life," rather than "human beings" through cloning. The Sixth Committee offers a summary of its work on the proposed convention against the reproductive cloning of human beings. An ad hoc committee established to consider the proposed convention has additional background. JURIST's Paper Chase has covered the UN debate on cloning. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Security Council officially opened for business Thursday outside of its New York City headquarters for only the fourth time in its history. The Council meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, began with an empassioned plea by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that there was "no time to waste" in settling the ongoing crisis in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Shortly afterwards, the official representative of the leading rebel group in the south of the Darfur region and a representative of the Sudanese goverment pledged to sign an agreement Friday that would see a peace agreement between government and rebel factions signed by the end of the year. The Sudan Tribune has more.... The African Union is hosting the 1st Summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, which begins Friday. The Conference in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania is being held under the joint sponsorship of the African Union and the United Nations and is scheduled to address such issues as peace and security, good governance and democracy, economic development, and humanitarian issues. Read an opening statement [PDF] by UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region Mr. Ibrahima Fall. Tanzania's IPP Media has more.... Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Andrey Denisov, official submitted the signed and ratified copy of the Kyoto treaty [PDF] to Secretary-General Kofi Annan Thursday. Russia's ratification [PDF of ratification status] of the treaty and its status as one of the world's largest producers of carbon dioxide means that the conditions spelled out in the treaty before application can occur have now been met. The treaty will become binding on all 190 signatories in 90 days, on February 16. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the Russian process of accepting the treaty. The UN News Centre has more.... The Ugandan Supreme Court issued a ruling Thursday allowing for the participation of political parties in elections. Since the assumption of power by President Yoweri Museveni, only his Movement Party has been permitted to participate. Under intense pressure, Museveni stated earlier that he would permit a referendum on the participation of opposing parties. The Supreme Court's ruling seems to eliminate the need for that vote. The Court specified that political parties have six months to register in preparation for the next scheduled elections in 2006. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he doesn't intend to change the Russian constitution or take more power for the presidency when reforming Russia's government structure. Putin said proposals in his reform package, which includes replacing elected governors with Kremlin nominees and moving to party-list elections to parliament, "are totally unconnected with any attempt by the head of state to obtain some kind of additional ... power over the regional authorities." Putin also said that he "view[s] negatively changes to the constitution in the near future and the midterm, because this document, which is at the basis of our nation, allows us to form power and governing agencies in a way that we believe to be expedient, while at the same time creating certain borders and limitations, connected with the preservation of democratic principles." Excerpts from Putin's interview are available from Putin's official website and Interfax has additional excerpts. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The European Parliament voted 449-149 (with 82 abstentions) Thursday to approve the slate of incoming EU Commissioners as put forth by new Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Barroso withdrew his original slate of commissioners from consideration by the European Parliament after Rocco Buttiglione, who was nominated for the EU justice portfolio, received harsh criticism for expressing conservative views on homosexuality and marriage during parliamentary review hearings. Barroso made several changes to the slate of Commissioners, including replacing Buttiglione with Franco Frattini, after Buttiglione withdrew his name from consideration. Earlier this week, Frattini successfully faced parliamentary review hearings of his nomination to the justice portfolio. The new Commissioners will begin work Monday. Watch recorded video of Thursday's European Parliament vote. The European Commission has profiles of the new Commissioners. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Thursday, November 18.

On Capitol Hill, the US Senate will convene at 9:30 AM ET. Watch a live webcast (via C-SPAN).... The US House will convene at 10 AM ET. Watch a live webcast (via C-SPAN).... The US House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution will hold a 10 AM ET oversight hearing on the notice provision in the Pigford v. Glickman (USDA settlement of discrimination against African-American farmers) consent decree. Watch a live webcast.... The US House Government Reform Committee Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources will hold a 10 AM ET hearing on law enforcement and the fight against methamphetamine. Watch a live webcast.

The Federal Election Commission is holding a 10 AM open meeting. Items on the agenda include rulemaking priorities (background here [PDF]) and draft technical amendments to rules under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (background here [PDF]).

The trial of Slobodan Milosevic continues Thursday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Watch a webcast of the trial beginning at 9:30 AM local time (3:30 AM ET); the webcast is on a 30-minute tape delay. The ICTY has background on the case.... Also Thursday, the trial of Fatmir Limaj and his co-defendants continues at the ICTY. Watch a webcast beginning at 2:45 PM local time (8:45 AM ET); the webcast is on a 30-minute tape delay. The ICTY has case information.

The United Nations Security Council is meeting in Nairobi to discuss the situation in Darfur. Watch a live webcast at 10 AM local time (2 AM ET).... The UN General Assembly will meet at 10 AM ET and will hold an election of judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Watch a live webcast.

The European Parliament will vote Thursday on whether to approve the revised European Commission. Watch a live webcast beginning at 11 AM local time (5 AM ET).... Later Thursday, The European Parliament will debate cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Cote d'Ivoire, Tibet, and Eritrea. Watch a live webcast beginning at 3 PM local time (9 AM ET).