[JURIST] As he promised in December [JURIST report], President Bush announced Monday that he has re-nominated for federal judgeships some 20 candidates [complete list] whose initial nominations failed, and who generally were derided by Democrats as too right-wing on a wide range of issues. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, responded [press release] to the re-nominations Monday by accusing the President of choosing "confrontation over cooperation and ideology over moderation." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] In the first trip by a Serbian leader through the province since the end of civil war in 1999, President Boris Tadic [official website in Serbian] has forcefully asserted his country's claim to Kosovo, which has been run by the UN [UNMIK website] for the past five years after being under Serb control during the rule of former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic [Wikipedia profile]. Tadic thanked residents of Kosovo for remaining in the region despite the constant conflict, and handed out Serbian flags to each village he visited. IHT has more.

[JURIST] Incoming US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] has added to his DOJ [official website] staff three of his former aides from the White House Counsel's office. When he took over earlier this month as Attorney General, Gonzales brought with him Theodore Ullyot, Raul Yanes, and Kyle Sampson, all of whom worked under him for the past four years, The hirings only add to questions about whether Gonzales can distance himself from President Bush, with whom he has had a close working and personal relationship for many years. While admitting that as a Cabinet member he is a member of the president's "team", Gonzales vowed in remarks at his swearing-in this morning [White House transcript; JURIST report] to be mindful of his duty as representative of the American people, and to keep his first allegiance to upholding the US Constitution. Republican lawmakers have lauded Gonzales' hirings, while Democrats pledged themselves to not judge Gonzales' ability to be separate himself from the White House based only on the hiring of aides. AP has more.

[JURIST] In Monday's environmental law news, a US citizen has settled a claim against Australian home products manufacturer James Hardie Industries [corporate website] for asbestos-related injuries. The confidential settlement is believed to be the first payout from the Australia-founded company (now incorporated in the Netherlands) outside of Australia and New Zealand. The company has an established settlement fund with the New Zealand government, and is in the process of establishing one in Australia. The Australian settlement fund has been controversial, raising concerns that non-Australians may be able to legally access the fund monies. The Australian has the full story.

In other news,

• EU spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich has stated that any change in Britain's emissions trading plan would be considered illegal by the EU. The emissions trading plan is part of the EUs means of complying with the Kyoto Protocol [text] requirements which go into effect on Wednesday. The comments were made following discussion of proposed revisions by the UK government. Reuters has the full story.
  
  
• The EPA [official website] seeks comments on an action [text] that would remove the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Site [EPA factpage] in Salinas, CA from the National Priorities List [EPA Superfund gateway](Superfund list). The former tire manufacturing plant operated from 1963 to 1980 and was listed as a Superfund site in 1987. Firestone (now Bridgestone Americas Holding [company website]) began cleaning up the site in 1983. Cleanup was completed in 1992, and testing since then has shown that there are no hazardous substances remaining at the site. Comments can be made here until March 16.

[JURIST] UK High Court Justice Ronnie Weatherup has dismissed an application by Irish republican party Sinn Fein [official website] for a judicial review of the British government's decision to withdraw taxpayer funding of a development grant worth about £100,000 annually after a report released by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) [official website] found that the IRA command, which includes Sinn Fein leaders, had sanctioned violent and illegal activities. Sinn Fein accused the judge of political bias but did not announce any intention to appeal the decision. The IMC, which was formed by British and Irish governments to report on IRA [Wikipedia profile] activities, also said the IRA should face financial sanctions. In his order, Judge Weatherup said the British and Irish governments' legislation that established the IMC was legally constituted and also dismissed a Sinn Fein claim of procedural unfairness. Sinn Fein was also ordered to pay the British government's legal costs. Read the IMC report [PDF] on IRA activities. AP has more.

[JURIST] Spanish prosecutors are seeking 74,000-year prison terms for each of the three suspects accused of using Spain as a staging ground for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The prison terms correspond to all the charges, including 2,973 murders for those who died in the September 11 attacks. However, Spanish law limits jail sentences to a maximum of 40 years. Authorities also seek a $1.17 billion fine against the three suspects. The punishments are among a total of 230,000 years of prison terms sought for 24 suspects accused of belonging to an al Qaeda unit in Spain. The three charged include the suspected leader of the Spanish cell Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, who investigators believe financed and organized Islamic militants in Spain, Driss Chebli and Ghasoub al Abrash Ghalyoun, who are charged with aiding the September 11 hijackers in their preparations for the attacks on New York and Washington. The trial is expected to start some time in mid-March but no date has been set because of a backlog in cases. Spain will become the second country to put September 11 suspects on trial. Reuters has more. From Madrid, El Mundo has local coverage in Spanish.

[JURIST] US District Court Judge William D. Quarles Jr. has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Baltimore Sun challenging on First Amendment grounds an order from Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. [official website] which barred thousands of state employees from contact with two Sun journalists. Judge Quarles dismissed the case because the newspaper was seeking more access to government officials than that afforded to a private citizen according to legal precedent from the Fourth Circuit and the US Supreme Court. Sun Editor Tim Franklin announced the newspaper would file an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] and would seek an expedited hearing before the court. Ehrlich issued the order last year after he felt Sun State House bureau chief David Nitkin and columnist Michael Olesker were not objectively covering his administration. The Sun filed suit [PDF complaint] in December contending the order violated the First Amendment [text] rights of the two journalists by denying them the same opportunities to solicit information as other citizens and news organizations. Read Judge Quarles order [PDF]. The Baltimore Sun has more on this story and continuing coverage of the Ehrlich order.

[JURIST] The California Republican Party [official website] has changed a party rule which allows the party to endorse Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] 16 months before the 2006 gubernatorial primary. Schwarzenegger, who still has not decided whether he will seek re-election, can now have the party pay for early expenses such as bulk mailing and voter registration drives. The change was overwhelmingly approved. However, the rule did cause a longtime GOP activist to resign her seat on the party rules committee saying the new rule would result in a loss of voter confidence by discouraging challengers. AP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Barbara Jones Monday suspended the fraud trial of former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers until Wednesday without explanation. The postponement comes just before the defense's cross-examination of the government's star witness, Scott Sullivan, the former finance chief at WorldCom. Sullivan implicated Ebbers [JURIST report] in the company's $11 billion accounting fraud during his testimony. Specifically, Sullivan cited to a memo he sent to Ebbers warning of a WorldCom unit's inability to pay its dividend. Ebbers, charged with fraud, conspiracy, and making false filings to the SEC, has denied any wrongdoing. Read Ebbers' indictment [text, PDF] and the superseding indictment [text, PDF]. AP has more.

[JURIST] DNA tests announced in a Sri Lanka court Monday confirmed that "Baby 81," [Wikipedia entry] a baby boy rescued from debris in the wake of the tsunami, does in fact belong to the couple who had launched a legal battle for his custody. The finding ended weeks of drama concerning the fate of the baby, who became a symbol for families torn apart by the natural disaster on December 26. Nine couples originally claimed the boy, but the Jeyarajahs, the boy's natural parents, were the only couple to file a formal claim. However, they could not document their custody of the baby, as records were swept away in the tsunami. The judge unsealed the results from an envelope during a hearing attended only by lawyers Monday, and then ordered the couple, hospital officials and baby to appear before the court on Wednesday. "This is the first such case in Sri Lanka and it is a historic case," Judge M.P. Mohaideen said after the hearing. AP has more.

[JURIST] Eleven al Qaeda suspects began their trial in Yemen on Monday, charged with trying to support insurgents battling against US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The defendants were also charged with planning attacks in Yemen. The defendants admitted to forging passports, but denied all other charges. If convicted, they face an unspecified amount of jail time. Three additional defendants were released prior to trial due to lack of evidence. Last week, a Yemeni appeals court sentenced a militant group's leader to death [AFP report] for the 2002 bombing of the French supertanker Limburg. Yemen has been attempting to shed its image as a hotbed for militants. Since the September 11 attacks, the Yemeni government has arrested hundreds of al Qaeda suspects. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] President Bush on Monday urged Congress to re-authorize the USA Patriot Act, the widely-criticized legislation passed in the wake of September 11. "We must not allow the passage of time or the illusion of safety to weaken our resolve in this new war," said Bush while attending the formal swearing-in ceremony of new Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. [CBS report] Civil liberties groups and privacy advocates have attacked the Act for the restrictions it places on citizens, and the intrusive powers given to government. However, Bush argued that the Act "has been vital to our success in tracking terrorists and disrupting their plans." Many key elements of the Patriot Act are set to expire at the end of this year, and may only be renewed through an act of Congress. AP has more. A transcript of President Bush's remarks is available from the White House website.

[JURIST] Apple Computer and Sony will appear in a French court over claims that their respective music download sites, iTunes and Connect, are deceptive and force customers to buy other products which are tied together. The French consumer group Union Federale des Consommateurs--Que Choisir [official site in French] has initiated the lawsuits, and claims that Sony and Apple limit consumer choice by preventing downloaded songs from being played on other media players. The suit has been filed against Sony UK and Sony France, as well as Apple's French unit. Apple's case will be heard in a Court of First Instance in Paris, while the Sony case will be heard in a Nanterre court. Both trials will commence later this year. CNET has more.

[JURIST] Israeli Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra has told the Jerusalem Post that he is in favor of placing certain radicals opposed to Prime Minister Sharon's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip in administrative detention, i.e hold them without trial [JP report]. Israel has so far only used this measure for Palestinian militants. Ezra cited increasing numbers of death threats against Israeli ministers. The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that as many as 84 senior officials have been put under protection amid concern for their lives [JP report]. On Sunday Prime Minister Sharon ordered his security services to plan for "reining in" extremists. "People [against] whom we have material - which is classified and cannot be brought to court - should be placed in administrative detention," said Ezra. On Monday, Israeli police chief Moshe Karadi also publicly supported the detention proposal [JP report]. BBC News has more. The Jerusalem Post has local coverage here.

[JURIST] Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm [official site] backed off her earlier support for displaying the Ten Commandments in the state Capitol, and said on Monday that she now believes such a display would be unconstitutional. On Friday, the governor had said she did not object to such a display. "I know that will make some people mad. But I think they are universal values," she said on a public television program. "That is not promoting a particular religion. That is just recognizing some universal values," she added. On Monday, however, she withdrew her earlier comments, and stated that she was merely speaking personally. "I'm not interested in violating the United States Constitution," she told AP interviewers. In response to the Friday comments, the American Family Association of Michigan [official site] announced it would seek permission to temporarily display the Ten Commandments monument which was removed from an Alabama judicial building last year. That monument now is on a national tour. Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore [CNN profile] was removed from the Alabama court in November 2003 after refusing a federal judge's order to remove the monument from public display. Moore appealed his ouster to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Court would not hear the case. [PDF, order denying certiorari] AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Monday's corporations and securities law news, insurance giant American International Group (AIG) [corporate website] announced it has received subpoenas from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer [official website] and the SEC [official website] "relating to investigations of nontraditional insurance products and certain assumed reinsurance transactions and AIG's accounting for such transactions." AIG said it will cooperate with the probe. Spitzer, who has accused the insurance industry of extensive bid-rigging and price fixing, has in recent weeks broadened his investigation into non-traditional insurance products in an attempt to determine whether they are aimed at reducing risk or vehicles to help companies smooth earnings. Just last month, Spitzer and the SEC sent subpoenas to billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. seeking information from its reinsurance subsidiary, General Re Corp [corporate website]. Read the AIG press release. AP has more.

In other news...

• The House Financial Services subcommittee [official website] is scheduled to hold a hearing [House press release] Tuesday about a SEC proposal, called Regulation NMS [Text of SEC proposed rule], which would reform stock trading rules in an effort to modernized the markets. The new rules could potentially hurt the auction system at the NYSE. CBSMarketWatch has more.
  
  
• Verizon Communications Inc. [corporate website] announced it would buy long-distance telephone company MCI Communications Inc. [corporate website] in a deal worth $6.75 billion. The deal will provide Verizon with an opportunity to compete with SBC Communications [corporate website] which recently acquired AT&T Corp [SBC information website]. Verizon, which beat out rival Qwest Communications [corporate website], will exchange stock valued at $4.8 billion and $488 million in cash to acquire MCI. Read the Verizon press release. Reuters has more.
  
  
• General Motors (GM) [corporate website] will pay Fiat [corporate website] $2 billion under a deal that releases the auto giant from an obligation to buy Fiat's car unit. The deal dissolves a 2000 partnership pact between the automakers which included an option for GM to buy the 90 percent of Fiat Auto that it did not already own. AP has more.
  
  
• OfficeMax Inc. [corporate website] has announced the resignation its CEO Christopher C. Milliken and also the firing of two employees connected with the ongoing internal investigation into the company's accounting. Read the OfficeMax press release. AP has more.
  
  
• As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the Pentagon [official website] announced it is investigating an additional eight weapons contracts handled by former Air Force acquisitions official Darleen Druyun for possible abuses. Four of the deals are with Boeing, the company to which Druyun gave special influence [JURIST story]. Read the DOD press release announcing the investigations and a list of contracts under review [PDF]. AP has more.
  
  
• The FTC [official website] is looking into Blockbuster Inc.'s [corporate website] hostile bid to acquire Hollywood Entertainment Corp. over potential antitrust violations. Read the Blockbuster press release relating to the bid. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Amnesty International has issued a Valentine's Day warning [AI press release] that "conflict diamonds," gems whose sale finances war, terrorism, and human rights abuses, are still being imported into the US due to loopholes in Customs procedures. The 2003 Clean Diamond Trade Act [PDF] prohibits most imports that do not comply with the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme, but Amnesty is petitioning US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner to clarify whether there are periodic random checks of diamond imports and exports. The current Operational Procedures [DOC] for importation of rough diamonds into the US only mandate reviewing and recording the information on the accompanying form, without any requirement to inspect the contents of the sealed diamond container, a process that enables falsely labeled shipments to enter the U.S. The General Accounting Office has a 2002 report [PDF] discussing the issue of conflict diamonds in greater detail.

[JURIST] The Pentagon [official website] announced on Monday that it is investigating eight additional Air Force contracts to determine if they were a product of illegal influence or manipulation by Darleen Druyun. Druyun, a former Air Force official, was convicted last year of giving preferential treatment to Boeing [corporate website] on a tanker lease deal. After leaving the Air Force, she was hired by Boeing as a top executive. Last fall, she pleaded guilty to felony charges and was sentenced to nine months in prison. Boeing's former CFO, Michael Sears, has also pleaded guilty for his role in hiring Druyun. The eight contracts, which include a $1.5 billion award to a Boeing-Pemco team in 2000-01 for maintenance of Air Force's aerial refueling aircraft, are in addition to seven other contracts already under investigation. Read the DOD press release announcing the investigations. AP has more.

[JURIST] British legal experts on the BBC news program Panorama have warned that a civil marriage between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles might not be allowed under existing legislation. The 1836 Marriage Act, which permitted marriages outside the church, contained an exemption for the royal family. Experts are divided on whether the 1949 Marriage Act, which did not contain that exemption, should be considered as an addition to or a replacement of the earlier Act. Statements to Panorama from Clarence House, the prince's official residence, express the view that the 1949 Act does not specifically prevent members of the royal family from having civil marriages; the government and the Queen have been advised by counsel that the marriage would be legal. However, Dr. Stephen Cretney QC, Emeritus Fellow of Legal History at Oxford University, disagrees: “There is no statutory procedure whereby members of the Royal Family can marry in a register office. Although there may be this ceremony and public rejoicing it could be the Prince of Wales is not married... and constitutionally it’s important to know whether they are married or not.” According to Panorama, if civil marriage in England is not an option, the couple could either appeal under the Human Rights Act, get married in Scotland [PDF], have a common law marriage, which was abolished for everyone except the royal family, or have Parliament amend the law. Downing Street and the UK Department of Constitutional Affairs have refused comment on the matter. Read the Panorama program transcript; the BBC has posted an associeted report. The Scotsman has more.

[JURIST] Alleging negligence over their failure to provide warning of the impending disaster, Austrian and German victims of the December tsunami in Asia will file suit in the US against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) [official website] in Washington and the tsunami warning center in Hawaii, a lawyer for the group said Monday. A yet-to-be announced hotel chain will also be named in the suit. The latest death toll from the disaster has reached nearly 287,000, while more than 800 Germans and Austrians have been declared dead or missing. AFP has the full story. The International Oceanographic Commission provides more information on the Asian tsunami.

[JURIST] The Council of Europe [official website], the continent's top human rights watchdog, has rejected overtures by Moscow to stop monitoring Russian compliance with the Council's code of ethics, citing the nation's continued lack of respect for human rights. COE Secretary General Terry Davis, beginning a three-day visit to Russia Monday [COE press release], said in particular that Russia had reneged on its promise to ban the death penalty; while Russia had declared a moratorium on capital punishment upon joining the COE, it never formally banned the practice, and certain groups and legislators in Russia have recently advocated capital punishment for terrorists in the wake of the Beslan school hostage crisis. AFP has more. COE also posts its human rights goals for its 46 member nations.

[JURIST] Judges of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugolsavia [official website] told former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic [BBC profile] Monday to move more quickly in conducting his defense against charges of genocide and war crimes. Milosevic has asserted his right to represent himself, and thus conducts the questioning of witnesses he calls, but he has had several health problems that have delayed the trial, most recently last week, when Milosevic was down with the flu. On Monday, however, judges were more concerned with the roundabout style of his questioning, pointing out that pursuant to a court order issued Thursday [ICTY text] that he only has 150 court days to present his case, and that 28 of those days have already been used, with a significant amount of testimony still remaining. Presiding judge Patrick Robinson of Jamaica warned Milosevic that he was 'going around in circles and wasting a lot of time.' Reuters has more. JURIST provides background on the Milosevic trial [JURIST Newsmakers archive].

[JURIST] A former weapons inspector and senior employee of Australia's Defense Intelligence Organisation [official factsheet] said Monday in a television interview [program website] that the Australian government has been covering up its involvement in the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rod Barton said that he had been personally involved in the interrogation of a suspect at the US Camp Cropper, where "high value" detainees were kept. Barton said that he never saw anything that amounted to torture performed by Australians, though he admits seeing several suspicious circumstances in the US prison, and suspected in one instance that a prisoner had been beaten to death. Barton said his goal was to force the Australian government [official website] to admit its involvement. Previously, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill [official profile] testified before Parliament [government website] that Australia was not involved in the interrogation of Iraqi prisoners, despite claims to the contrary made in January [JURIST report] and recently reasserted [AP report] by freed Australian Guantanamo detainee Mamdouh Habib. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Moroccan officials announced Sunday that six Moroccan peacekeepers currently serving with the UN force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been arrested on charges of sex abuse. The chief of Moroccan peacekeepers in the DRC and his assistant were also relieved of command. The arrests mark the first official charges brought against UN peacekeepers in the light of evidence that UN personnel engaged in sexual abuse, including sex with minors, in the DRC. The UN Mission to the Congo [official website] immediately praised the Moroccan government [official website] for its action and stated that it hoped the arrests would serve as an example to the other nations contributing forces to the peacekeeping mission. The arrests follow last Friday's announcement by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that a 'zero-tolerance' policy [JURIST report] was now in place concerning any sex between UN peacekeepers and the Congo population. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the Congo sex abuse scandal. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A UN ad hoc committee on human cloning [official website] meets Monday to begin consideration of an alternative approach to regulation that would focus on national lawmaking rather than on an overarching international regulatory structure. Attempts to frame a comprehensive international treaty failed in November [JURIST report] after the United States attempted to expand the proposed instrument to ban all human cloning, which some countries preferred not to do in hopes of facilitating scientific and medical advances. The UN committee is made up of representatives of all 191 UN member-states, so any consensus reached would presumably be acceptable to the entire UN. A draft declaration is expected Friday. AFP has more.

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [official profile] has ruled out any possibility of his resignation over the Oil-for-Food scandal currently plaguing the UN. Annan made the statement in an interview on a BBC morning program during which he was questioned about concessions made to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the Oil-for-Food program [official website]. Annan said that the ongoing investigation of the scandal would help clarify the complexity of the issues that UN leadership faced at the time. Annan reiterated his pledge to lift diplomatic immunity from any UN employee charged with misconduct. Read the interview transcript [BBC]. AFP has more.

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

Alberto Gonzales [official biography] will be sworn in [media advisory] as the nation's 80th Attorney General by President Bush today. C-SPAN has a live webcast of the ceremony beginning at 9:25 AM ET.

On Capitol Hill, the US Senate [official website] convenes at 12 Noon ET today, when it will consider the nomination of Judge Michael Chertoff as Secretary of Homeland Security. Watch a live webcast of proceedings via FedNet. The US House [official website] opens its session at 12 Noon ET, with a live webcast available via FedNet.

The Cato Institute in Washington DC is holding a forum titled "Resolved: The Court Should Better Protect Property Rights" today, beginning at 12 Noon ET. Watch a live webcast.

Another conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute, is hosting a forum on "The Judicial Confirmation Process: The Difficulty in Being Smart." Watch a live webcast of the program via C-SPAN 3 beginning at 9 AM ET.

At the UN, the Security Council [official website] will elect a member to the International Court of Justice [official website] during its session, which begins at 10:15 AM ET. Watch a live webcast of proceedings.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the trial of Slobodan Milosevic [ICTY case backgrounder] resumes today after being adjourned for several days due to Milosevic's poor health. A webcast begins at 9:30 AM local time [3:30 AM ET]. Also today, the trial of Fatmir Limaj and others [ICTY case backgrounder] continues, with a webcast beginning at 2:45 PM local time [8:45 AM ET].