[JURIST] In a unanimous ruling Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court [official website] struck down a state law prohibiting consensual sex between unmarried people. Read the opinion [PDF]. The justices based their decision on Lawrence v. Texas [ruling], the 2003 US Supreme Court case voiding a state anti-sodomy law. As in that case, the VA Supreme Court found the state law unconstitutional as it infringed the Due Process rights of adults to engage in private sexual conduct. The law against sex between consensual non-married individuals - Virginia Code § 18.2-344 - has been on the books for over 200 years but has not been enforced since 1847. AP has more.

[JURIST] Following up a JURIST report from earlier today, US Central Command [official military website] has now announced that Staff Sgt. Jonathan J. Alban-Cardenas has been convicted of one count of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder during a general court-martial at the 1st Cavalry Division courthouse in Camp Liberty, Baghdad. A military judge handed down the verdict and sentence of one year confinement, reduction to the lowest pay grade, and a bad conduct discharge. Read the Central Command news release.

[JURIST] Army Spc. Charles Graner was found guilty late Friday afternoon of conspiracy, assault, maltreating prisoners, dereliction of duty and committing indecent acts, all charges that arose out of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal. The military jury in Graner's court-martial deliberated less than five hours and Graner now faces up to 17 1/2 years jail time. AP has more. Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Witness in Abu Ghraib trial said intel officers directed Graner, others
• Defense rests in Abu Ghraib case without Graner testimony
• Graner may testify in second day of defense in Abu Ghraib case
• Graner defense begins at Abu Ghraib abuse trial
• Iraqi ex-prisoners to testify at Graner trial in wake of new video, photo evidence of abuse
• Iraqi detainee abuse trials get under way in US, Europe

[JURIST] FOX News is reporting that after hearing arguments [JURIST report] in a case seeking to prevent a prayer at President Bush's upcoming inauguration, US District Judge John Bates has rejected the challenge of plaintiff Michael Newdow [JURIST Newsmaker]. Read the opinion here [PDF].

4:48 PM ET - FOX News now has a story here.

[JURIST] The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC official website] filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Chicago-based Sidley Austin Brown & Wood [law firm website], for alleged discrimination against the firm's older lawyers. The suit, which could cost the firm millions of dollars, stems from a 1999 decision to demote 31 of the firm's lawyers from "partner" status, most of whom were over 50 years old. In an attempt to create opportunities for young lawyers, the firm also lowered its mandatory retirement age from 65 to 60. Subpoenas were issued during the 1999 investigation and a 2002 US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals opinion [PDF text] rejected the firm's argument that partners are not protected as "employees." The EEOC suit seeks to reinstate the demoted partners, change the mandatory retirement policy, and provide damages for those injured. Read the EOC press release. The Chicago Sun-Times has more.

[JURIST] Following up on a JURIST report from earlier today, the Ukraine Supreme Court [official website in Ukrainian] announced Friday that on Monday morning Kyiv time it would hear the appeal filed earlier today by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukoych [Wikipedia profile] in a final attempt to halt the inauguration of rival Viktor Yushchenko [Wikipedia profile]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge [official profile], in an interview with BBC News airing Friday, said that the US does not condone the use of torture to extract information from terrorists, but added that "under an extreme set of circumstances," where it could prevent a major loss of life, torture "could happen." Ridge's comments come after Thursday's release of a Human Rights Watch report [JURIST report; text of HRW report] calling for the Bush administration to set up an independent commission to investigate allegations of the use of torture during interrogations at Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST Hot Topic]. Also Thursday, the Justice Department announced that it has opened an investigation [New York Times report] into FBI documents [JURIST report] that conclude that the military used coercive and abusive tactics while interrogating prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq. BBC News has more on Ridge's comments.

[JURIST] Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott [official profile] has filed a federal lawsuit against Ryan Pitylak, a 22-year-old college student, and his 40-year-old business partner, Mark Trotter, who Abbott says head the world's fourth-largest spamming operation. According to allegations in the lawsuit [complaint, PDF], Pitylak and Trotter have sent hundreds of thousands of unsolicited, misleading e-mails in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act [text] and Texas state law. The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring the pair from sending additional misleading emails and millions of dollars in fines. Pitylak and Trotter's lawyer said that a great effort was made to ensure compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, including disclaimers on the e-mails. Read the Texas Attorney General press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit, and watch recorded video of the announcement. AP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge John Bates has heard arguments in a case seeking to prevent the recitation of a prayer [JURIST report] during President Bush' inauguration [official website] next week. Plaintiff Michael Newdow [JURIST Newsmaker], who unsuccessfully tried to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, argued that allowing a Christian prayer at the ceremony forces him to accept unwanted religious beliefs in violation of the Constitution. Newdow, an atheist, filed and lost similar case when Bush was first inaugurated, because he did not suffer "a sufficiently concrete and specific injury." Newdow argues that this second case is different because he has a ticket to attend the inauguration, rather than just watching the ceremony on television. Lawyers for President Bush and the inaugural committee told Judge Bates that the decision to have a Christian minister give an invocation is Bush's personal choice, one which the court has no power to prevent. Bates is expected to issue his ruling Friday. Newdow has posted the complaint [PDF] in the current case, as well as other case documents. AP has more.

[JURIST] Italy's Constitutional Court [official website] will allow a referendum to overturn parts of a controversial new Italian law on fertility treatments to proceed, but rejected a call for a referendum to completely overturn the law. Last year, Italian lawmakers passed a measure which allows only cohabitating heterosexual couples access to fertility treatments, bans egg or sperm donation or the freezing of embryos, and restricts the number of eggs that can be fertilized. In a ruling handed down Thursday, the court refused to allow a referendum that would completely overturn the law, but will allow the public to vote on certain elements of the law, including parts that restrict access to fertility treatment to heterosexual couples and rules on embryo research. In light of the court's decision, some lawmakers are calling for Parliament to amend the law, rather than put the law before voters. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Former Argentine Navy captain Adolfo Scilingo appeared in a Spanish court Friday where he is on trial for committing genocide during Argentina's "Dirty War." In addition to genocide, Scilingo also faces 30 charges of murder, 93 of causing injury, 255 terrorism charges, and 286 torture charges, all stemming from Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship. The trial, authorized under a Spanish law granting jurisdiction over anyone suspected of crimes against humanity even if the acts took place outside Spain, marks the first time that a member of the former Argentine military regime will be tried for genocide. In his Friday court appearance, Scilingo was declared fit to stand trial, despite Scilingo's ongoing hunger strike. Scilingo refused to answer the judge's questions and the trial was adjourned until Monday. The Vanished Gallery [advocacy website] has background on Scilingo [reprinted Time Magazine article]. BBC has more on Friday's developments and IPS has background on the trial. La Nacion has local coverage from Argentina.

[JURIST] The United States has announced that it will withhold $10 million in aid to Serbia and Montenegro [Wikipedia article] due to Belgrade's lack of cooperation [JURIST report] with the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal of the former Yugoslavia [official website]. According to the US State Department:

The Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2005 [text] Section 563 (c) prohibits assistance to the central government of Serbia after May 31, 2005 unless the Secretary of State certifies that the government of Serbia and Montenegro has taken action to, cooperate with the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, "including access for investigators, the provision of documents, and the surrender and transfer of indictees or assistance in their apprehension, including making all practicable efforts to apprehend and transfer Ratko Mladic," and certain other steps....

We call on the authorities in Belgrade to cooperate fully with the Tribunal by arresting and transferring fugitive indictees, particularly Ratko Mladic, to face justice in The Hague.

The Secretary is prepared to review this decision if future actions by Serbia and Montenegro demonstrate their cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

It is inadmissible that our parliaments and governments adopt full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal as their state and national priority only for it to be later obstructed by those protecting the Tribunal's indictees. At the same time, those failing to pursue the agreed policies call themselves patriots while those complying with them are branded as traitors.

[JURIST] The Kansas Senate [official website] voted Thursday in favor of a proposed constitutional amendment [text, PDF] that would ban same-sex marriage and would prohibit the state from allowing civil unions or granting benefits normally associated with marriage to same-sex couples. The measure, which passed by a 28-11 vote, will now move to the state House, where it must pass by a two-thirds majority before the proposed amendment can be put on state ballots for voter approval. The proposed amendment is supported by many of the state's conservative ministers, one of whom called the Senate vote "a victory for the voters of Kansas." State Sen. John Vratil [official website; Vratil's stance on a marriage amendment], who voted against the measure, decried the favorable vote, saying "Never before in the history of our state have we added an amendment to the constitution that proactively discriminates against people." According to Kansans for Justice & Equality [advocacy website], the measure is potentially unconstitutional [KJE anti-marriage amendment messaging]. Friday's Lawrence Journal-World has more.

[JURIST] Google Inc. [corporate site] and the Securities and Exchange Commission [official site] have settled a complaint over the company's failure to register employee stock options during its initial public offering in August. The settlement, in which Google accepted a cease-and-desist order by the SEC, allows the company to avoid any financial penalties. The SEC charged Google with violating a requirement that companies issuing more than $5 million in stock options to employees within a 12-month period notify the SEC or disclose financial information to the employees, but the SEC did not charge Google with fraudulent actions. Google issued more than $80 million in options. Employees buying stock options prior to the IPO risked losing money if the stock value dropped. Google's general counsel David C. Drummond [corporate profile] was named in the compaint because the SEC alleged he knew of the requirement. Drummond also faces civil charges in a case against another company, Smartforce, for which he served as CFO. Read the SEC press release on the charges against Google, as well as a Google filing made in response to the charges. The Boston Globe has more.

[JURIST] Court-martial proceedings began Friday for a US soldier charged with the murder of a wounded Iraqi teenager during a outbreak of violence in Baghdad last year. Staff Sgt. Cardenas Alban, of the 41st Infantry Regiment out of Fort Riley, KA, is one of three soldiers charged in the incident and the second to be court-martialed. Staff Sgt. Johnny Horne was convicted last month [JURIST report] and sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a murder charge. A third soldier, 2nd Lt. Erick Anderson, is also charged with murder. The three soldiers were part of a patrol in Sadr City on Aug. 18, which was during a period of heightened conflict with militia forces of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The soldiers fired on several men they suspected of placing bombs, and later killed one of the men who was wounded in the initial shooting, which the military called a mercy killing. Read a US Central Command press release on the court-martial. The Los Angeles Times details the events surrounding the killing. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A defense witness testifying Thursday in the military trial of Spc. Charles Graner [Wikipedia profile] told the jury that intelligence officers at the Abu Ghraib prison told Graner and others what to do. Former military policewoman Megan Ambuhl [CDI case file; Wikipedia profile] said "They would come down with their detainees and let us know what they wanted us to do with them. They might say this guy is cooperating, not cooperating." Ambuhl testified that she was asked her to watch one male detainee shower: "They wanted me to go in the shower and point at the genital area and laugh at them." Ambuhl admitted on cross-examination by prosecutors, however, that she had had a sexual relationship with Graner and did not want him to go to jail. Graner's defense closed its case Thursday without calling Graner himself [JURIST report] to the stand. Reuters has more. The jury in the Graner case is expected to begin deliberations today.

[JURIST] Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukoych [Wikipedia profile; presidential campaign website in Ukrainian] Friday filed one last appeal over the December 26 presidential re-vote with the Ukrainian Supreme Court [official website in Ukrainian] in a final legal bid to stop the inauguration of opposition leader and apparent election winner Viktor Yushchenko [Wikipedia profile; presidential campaign website]. Ukraine's Central Election Commission [official website in Ukrainian] certified the vote last week, but the Supreme Court stepped in and halted formal publication of the results to allow Yanukoych's latest legal action. Yushchenko, who has directed his supporters to take down their tent-camp in downtown Kyiv [Yushchenko campaign press release] that was the center of protests after the initial November run-off, has accused Yanukovych of "torturing" the country by his multiple appeals, of which there have been at least 12 to this point. The latest appeal, complete with 600 pounds of supporting documentation, was delivered to the court by min-van this morning. The high court judges now have five days to make a ruling. VOA has more.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Friday, January 14.

At the United Nations, the Security Council will meet at 10 AM ET for closed consultations on Iraq.

The trial of Fatmir Limaj and his co-defendants continues Friday 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.

The trial of former Argentine naval captain Adolfo Scilingo begins Friday at Spain's National High Court. Scilingo is accused of carrying out crimes against humanity during Argentina's "Dirty War." BBC News has more.