[JURIST] Citing allegedly unfair rulings by a US District Court judge Barbara Jones, former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers [JURIST news archive], convicted in March [JURIST report] of orchestrating an $11 billion accounting fraud that led to the telecommunications giant's downfall, is seeking a new trial. Attorneys for Ebbers claim that the judge wrongfully refused to grant immunity to three potential witnesses who were otherwise reluctant to testify on Ebbers' behalf. They also claim that Ebbers should have been permitted to present a defense that WorldCom [MCIWorldCom website] accounting principles were in line with industry standards, and that the judge's instructions that jurors could find him guilty based on "conscious avoidance". With sentencing set for June, Ebbers, 63, could spend the rest of his life in prison if his requests are unsuccessful. AP has more.

[JURIST] Following heated confirmation hearings last week, a showdown vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee [committee website] is set for Tuesday over John Bolton [official profile], President Bush's nominee for the UN ambassador. Bolton has been characterized by his critics as hot-tempered and abusive of subordinates, and has been accused of concealing information from superiors in the State Department. His outspoken criticism of the UN bureaucracy have also come under fire, but colleagues in the State Dept. have come to Bolton's defense [JURIST report]. Democratic members of the Foreign Relations Committee plan to vote against Bolton on Tuesday, but their hopes of defeating the nomination depend on persuading one or both of two wavering Republicans -- Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) -- to vote against him. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals [court website] ruled Monday that claims against the Vatican Bank made by Eastern European survivors of the Holocaust should be heard in federal court. While Supreme Court decisions restrict the roles federal courts may assume in international matters, the Ninth Circuit ruling [PDF] upheld the suit in light of the need for a prompt resolution due to the advanced age of many of the plaintiffs, and because no other actions are pending in the dispute. The suit alleges that all or a portion of the treasury of the Nazi puppet regime in Croatia was disbursed to Catholic clergymen for transfer to Rome upon the collapse of the Nazi reign in Europe, and eventually found its way into the Vatican Bank's possession. A website for claims against the Vatican Bank has been set up by the plaintiffs. The Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal has more.

[JURIST] Former President Jimmy Carter [Carter Center profile] and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III [Wikipedia profile] Monday opened the first public hearings of the Commission on Federal Election Reform [official website], set up to continue the election reforms of Help America Vote Act of 2002. Kay Maxwell, president of the US League of Women Voters [advocacy website], testified [text, PDF] to the need for new government initiatives and funding to reduce long lines and secure more voting machines and poll workers. Other witnesses proposed a national holiday on election day to increase turnout and decrease waiting time to vote. One topic on the Carter-Baker commission agenda is the questions of whether paperless electronic voting machines are prone to fraud, or whether the public perceives them that way. A separate US commission is overseeing the electoral problems from 2000, including the hanging chad on punch-card ballots. Many liberal groups have objected [Common Dreams press release] to Baker's place on the commission because of his role as President Bush's representative during the contested 2000 election. The commission will hold a second hearing June 30 at the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy [institute website] at Rice University in Houston, and plans to submit a final report to Congress in September. The Commission website has the prepared testimony of today's witnesses. Bloomberg has more on the session.

[JURIST] Texas insurance agent Jerry Gossett has sued the Republican National Committee [official website] and one of its suppliers, the Spalding Group [corporate website], alleging they stole his design for the 'W' bumper stickers used by President George W. Bush in his 2004 re-election campaign. Gossett, a Bush supporter who contributed to both of his presidential campaigns, claims to have pitched the idea to Spalding in 2001 and to then-RNC chairman Ed Gillespie in 2003. Both rejected his idea. Gossett has filed a lawsuit in federal district court seeking damages for copyright infringement and conspiracy. The RNC and its supplier deny any wrongdoing and call the lawsuit frivilous. The outcome of the case will likely hinge on similarities and differences between Gosset's design and Spalding's final product. AP has more.

[JURIST] In Monday's environmental law news, more than 600 Honduran banana pickers have filed a lawsuit against the Dole [company website], Chiquita [company website], and Fresh Del Monte [company website] food companies and the Dow Chemical [company website] and Royal Dutch/Shell [company website] chemical companies alleging that the pickers were exposed to dibromochloropropane [ATSDR profile, PDF] (DBCP), a pesticide, on bananas in Central America after it was banned in the US in 1979. DBCP is known to cause a range of reproductive and other disorders. The complaint follows similar actions [JURIST report] by Costa Rican and Nicaraguan banana workers in recent years. Reuters has more.

In other news,

• New York governor George Pataki plans [press release] to offer legislation that would force schools to use environmentally benign cleaning products. If approved, the bill would take effect by the start of the 2006 school year, allowing districts time to use up all of their current supplies. The Albany Times Union has the full story.
  

[JURIST] Israel's Supreme Court [official English site] Monday dismissed an attempt by Jewish settlers to bar legislation enabling the government to accomplish its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The settlers filed eight petitions challenging the Evacuation Compensation bill, ratified in February, which provides government compensation for the 8,500 Israelis who are to be evacuated in an Israeli attempt to disengage from conflict with Palestinians. "After a review of the material, we determine by majority opinion that there is no room to issue the interim injunctions that have been sought," the court said in its decision. The evacuation is set to begin July 20, although Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [BBC profile] indictated on Monday that he may delay withdrawal by three weeks due to a Jewish mourning period [BBC report]. Reuters has more on the Supreme Court decision.

[JURIST] Leading Monday's corporations and securities law news, Coca-Cola Co. [corporate website] has announced that the Justice Department (DOJ) [official website] has closed its investigation relating to allegations raised in a whistleblower lawsuit of accounting irregularities at the company. The DOJ will not take any action. The investigation relates to a 2003 lawsuit filed by former Coke manager Matthew Whitley [complaint, PDF], who said he was fired in retaliation for reporting fraud and accounting irregularities to senior management. Coke had denied most of the allegations but later settled Whitley's lawsuit for $540,000 [Coca-Cola press release]. Also today, Coca-Cola reached a settlement with the SEC over its business practices in Japan. The SEC had found Coca-Cola had implemented an undisclosed business practice whereby Japanese bottlers were offered extended credit terms to induce them into purchasing quantities of beverage concentrate they would not have otherwise purchased. Coca-Cola will take remedial actions in corporate compliance and disclosure as part of the settlement. The company will not pay a fine and not admit or deny any wrongdoing. Read the Coca-Cola press release and chairman Neville Isdell's communication [PDF] distributed to Coca-Cola employees today commenting on the settlement. Read the SEC press release and administrative proceeding [PDF]. AP has more.

In other news...

• Jury selection in the trial of five former Enron [corporate website; JURIST Hot Topic news archive] executives began today. The five executives are accused of 170 counts of conspiracy, wire and securities fraud, insider trading, and money laundering related to lying to investors and the public about the value and capabilities of the business. US District Judge Vanessa Gilmore has taken the unusual step of allowing the prosecution and defense an hour each to question potential jurors because of concerns about bias in Enron cases. Trials in federal court usually require the judge to ask all the questions. Read the indictment [PDF] against the five. The Houston Chronicle has more and continuing coverage of the Enron trials.
  
  
• The five men convicted in Enron's Nigerian barge scam [Houston Chronicle coverage] in November are seeking lighter sentences according to court documents made public on Friday. The five claim their sentences should be light because their conspiracy and fraud had no victims, no losses and that the deal was good for Enron shareholders. Former Merrill Lynch [corporate website] banker James A. Brown says he should receive probation with community service or a minimum prison time rather than the 30 years in prison the government seeks. Brown is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday with former Merrill Lynch banker Daniel Bayly. Their three co-defendants, bankers Robert Furst and William Fuhs and Enron's Dan Boyle, are to be sentenced in May. Read the indictment [PDF] against the five involved in the barge deal. The Houston Chronicle has more.
  
  
• The Financial Times is reporting [subscription req'd] Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. [corporate website] will buy electronic trading company Instinet Group [corporate website] for about $1.8 billion. Reuters has more.
  
  
• Adobe Systems Inc. [corporate website], will buy Macromedia Inc. [corporate website] for about $3.4 billion which will allows it to animate and add interactivity to Web pages. The move is a response to the looming challenge from Microsoft [corporate website] which plans to include more document features in its next version of Windows. Read the Macromedia press release. Bloomberg has more.
  
  
• The Wall Street Journal is reporting [subscription req'd] former American International Group Inc. (AIG) [corporate website] reinsurance chief Christian Milton may have misled the New York State Insurance Department over information given that underestimated AIG's ties to an offshore reinsurer. Milton was dismissed last month because of his lack of cooperation with state and federal probes into AIG. Reuters has more.
  
  
• Les Moonves [Wikipedia profile] and Thomas Freston [Viacom biography], the co-chief operating officers of Viacom [corporate website], received almost $20 million in pay and bonuses. The figure is supplemented by tens of thousands of dollars each received as reimbursement for staying in their own homes while in New York and Los Angeles for business. CNN has more.

[JURIST] Following up on a story reported last week in JURIST's Paper Chase, two Houston oil executives pleaded not guilty Monday in a Manhattan federal court to charges of defrauding the UN Oil-For-Food program [JURIST news archive] and paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government. David B. Chalmers Jr., owner of Houston-based Bayoil (USA) Inc., and oil trader Ludmil Dionissiev, a Bulgarian citizen and permanent US resident were arrested last Thursday and charged with cheating the UN out of $100 million that was supposed to go to humanitarian aid. The men were allowed to remain free on $500,000 bail each. If convicted of the charges, Chalmers and Dionissiev could face up to 62 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. AP has more.

[JURIST] Italian authorities indicted four people on Monday in connection with the death of famed Italian financier Roberto Calvi [Wikipedia entry], known as "God's Banker" due to his close association with the Vatican. Calvi was found hanging under a bridge in London in 1982 after fleeing Italy when one of the country's largest private banks, Banco Ambrosiano, went bankrupt under his chairmanship with debts around $1 billion. The British police initally treated Calvi's death as suicide [BBC report], but his body was later exhumed and in 2002 an enquiry concluded that he had been murdered [BBC report]. Businessman Flavio Carboni, his ex-girlfriend Manuela Kleinzig and two men with alleged ties to the mafia, Pippo Calo and Ernesto Diotallevi, will stand trial in October for Calvi's killing. There is evidence suggesting that Calvi was murdered by the mafia to stop him from divulging detalils about the links between the mafia, the Vatican, and the secretive Masonic group known as P2 [Wikipedia entry]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court Monday agreed to consider whether a Brazil-based church can continue using a traditional Native American tea brewed from a hallucinogenic herb, hoasca, as a religious sacrament. The case is Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal, docket 04-1084. The 10th Circuit held [full opinion] that the Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal [official website] had made a prima facie case under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act [links to full text] that the Bush administration's efforts to prevent their use of hoasca limited their free exercise of a sincerely-held religious belief and issued an injunction [PDF complaint requesting injunctive relief] preventing the government from enforcing the Controlled Substances Act against church members, who number about 140 in the US and 8,000 worldwide. Government arguments that permitting use of the tea harmed church members, leads to illegal trafficking of the tea to non-members, and "directly impairs the effectiveness of international narcotics law-enforcement efforts, frustrates intergovernmental cooperation, and weakens the government's ability to insist that other countries adhere to their treaty obligations." The First Amendment Center has a number of documents relating to the case, while the Center for Cognitive Liberty has a background page on the herb in question and other cases related to it. AP has more on the grant.

Also Monday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari is Georgia v. Randolph, raising the issue of whether law enforcement officers can search the common areas of premises if one or more occupants objects, even if another agrees, and Maryland v. Blake, on a suspects communication with police after being informed of his right to counsel. The full Order List is now available here [PDF].

[JURIST] One hundred and fifteen Roman Catholic cardinal-electors [EWTN profiles] have begun to take their oaths of secrecy prescribed in the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis [text] at the start of the papal conclave in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger [BBC profile], dean of the College of Cardinals [backgrounder] and himself a leading papal candidate, administered the general oath:

We, the Cardinal electors present in this election of the Supreme Pontiff promise, pledge and swear, as individuals and as a group, to observe faithfully and scrupulously the prescriptions contained in the Apostolic Constitution of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, Universi Dominici Gregis, published on 22 February 1996. We likewise promise, pledge and swear that whichever of us by divine disposition is elected Roman Pontiff will commit himself faithfully to carrying out the munus Petrinum of Pastor of the Universal Church and will not fail to affirm and defend strenuously the spiritual and temporal rights and the liberty of the Holy See.

In a particular way, we promise and swear to observe with the greatest fidelity and with all persons, clerical or lay, secrecy regarding everything that in any way relates to the election of the Roman Pontiff and regarding what occurs in the place of the election, directly or indirectly related to the results of the voting; we promise and swear not to break this secret in any way, either during or after the election of the new Pontiff, unless explicit authorization is granted by the same Pontiff; and never to lend support or favour to any interference, opposition or any other form of intervention, whereby secular authorities of whatever order and degree or any group of people or individuals might wish to intervene in the election of the Roman Pontiff.

[JURIST] US military officials are citing a recent overview of information obtained from Guantanamo detainees as evidence that the military should be able to conduct operations at Camp Delta without intervention from the US court system. The unclassified document [PDF], quietly released online last month, highlights the results from some 4,000 interrogation reports and the information obtained therein, including reports of al Qaeda's terror operations, training, and tactics employed in attempts to attack the US. Administration officials contend that it is more important to continue the interrogations in order to attempt future terror attacks than to grant constitutional safeguards to non-US citizen enemy combatants. The Los Angeles Times has more.

[JURIST] The first post-genocide president in Rwanda [government website], Pasteur Bizimungu [Wikipedia profile], begins his appeal process Monday before the Rwandan Supreme Court to challenge his convictions for inciting civil disobedience, associating with criminals and embezzling public funds. Bizimungu is currently serving a 15 year sentence and has continually denied his guilt. Prosecutors are seeking to have the sentence extended to a life term, while Bizimungu's defense counsel are seeking to reduce the former leader's prison time. Bizimungu was arrested in 2002 after trying to form a new political party which the government alleged was aimed at re-igniting tensions between the Tutsi and Hutu elements of the population. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Recently elected Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [BBC profile] said Monday that he would refuse to sign a death conviction for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein if he is convicted of war crimes. During a BBC television interview [recorded video] Talabani, a lawyer, said he was opposed to the death penalty as a matter of principle and said he might withdraw from consideration of the issue and let it be decided by the two vice-presidents, if it even arises while he is in office. Talabani is only in office to oversee the drafting of a new constitution, after which there will be new national elections late this year according the the new constitution's provisions. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of the Iraq Special Tribunal [JURIST news archive]. Reuters has more.

10:18 AM ET - Responding to Talabani's interview, a spokesman for the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, the largest political grouping in the Iraqi National Assembly, said every member of his party believed that Saddam should get the death penalty if found guilty of crimes against the Iraqi people and that Talabani should resign if he is not willing to sign an execution order. AP has more.

[JURIST] Two convicted killers currently on Kentucky's death row begin a court challenge Monday to the state's use of lethal injection as its form of execution. Ralph Baze and Thomas Bowling claim that the use of lethal injection is "cruel and unusual" punishment under the meaning of the Eighth Amendment [text]. Attorneys for the two men argue that the mixture of drugs used by Kentucky to anesthetize inmates before the introduction of a muscle blocker and the actual lethal injection is insufficient to actually prevent the inmate from feeling the effects of the injection. Countless conflicting medical experts are expected to testify concerning the depth of inmates' unconsciousness and whether they still feel pain when the lethal injection stops their heart. An article by two Univerity of Miami researchers published just last week [BBC report] in the British medical journal The Lancet [journal website; full text available by subscription] concluded on the basis of evidence from Texas and Virginia that subjects of lethal injection were in fact aware of what was happening to them and that the procedure was unnecessarily cruel. USA Today has more.

[JURIST] The Congress of Ecuador [government website in Spanish] voted Sunday to disband the country's current Supreme Court [official webiste in Spanish] following an earlier attempt on Friday [JURIST report] to do the same thing by Ecuador President Lucio Gutierrez [Wikipedia profile]. Congress decided in an emergency session Sunday night that, since they appointed the interim court members, only they had the power to dismiss them. Congress will begin hearings on Tuesday to decide how to fill the 31 now-empty judicial seats. The controversy surrounding the Supreme Court reaches back to Gutierrez's December dismissal of the previous court [JURIST report] as biased against him. In the four months since, Gutierrez has faced intense public and government pressure to restore the court as neutral, independent body. Reuters has more. El Comercio has local coverage in Spanish.

[JURIST] Six Pitcairn Island [government website] men convicted last year [JURIST report] of rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault in one of the most unusual trials in British legal history [JURIST report] began their appeal process Monday in the Pitcairn Supreme Court [PacLII court database]. The six men, four of whom face jail time and two who received hundreds of hours of community service, are appealing their convictions for sex with minors, arguing that underage sex has been a part of the island's heritage since its settlement by the eighteenth-century mutineers from the HMS Bounty. All of the convictions have been postponed until challenges by the convicted men's lawyers to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom [JURIST report] over the tiny Pacific island have been heard. Reuters has more.

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

The US Supreme Court [official website] hears oral arguments in two cases beginning at 10 AM ET today. In the first, Grable & Sons Metal Products v. Darue Engineering [Duke Law School case backgrounder], 04-603, the Court will decide whether a state quiet title action can be removed to federal court by claiming that a necessary interpretation of a US statute raised a substantial federal question and created original jurisdiction in the district court. The ABA has merit briefs in the case. In the second, Johnson v. California [Duke Law School case backgrounder], 04-6964, the Court will consider what must be shown in challenging a another party's peremptory challenge as based on impermissible group bias. The ABA has merit briefs in the case.

The US Senate [official website] convenes at 1 PM ET today, when it will consider H.R. 1268 [bill summary], the Iraq/Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations bill. Watch a live webcast of the session.

The US House [official website] convenes at 2 PM ET today for a pro forma session. Watch a live webcast of the session.

The Commission on Federal Election Reform [official website] is holding a forum on election reform and the integrity of federal elections, beginning at 10:30 AM ET today. Watch a live webcast of the event via C-SPAN.

The Cato Institute [official website] is holding a forum titled "The Future of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT): Prospects and Problems" at Noon ET today. Watch a live webcast of the event.

The Heritage Foundation [official website] is hosting a forum titled "Life and Death: Reflections on the Terri Schiavo Case" at Noon ET today. Watch a live webcast of the forum.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars [official website] is holding a forum titled "Reform of the United Nations Security Council and the Role of Latin America" at 3 PM ET today. Watch a live webcast of the event.

The UN Security Council [official website] meets at Noon ET today, when it will consider the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. View the agenda, and watch a live webcast of the meeting.

The Eleventh UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice [official website] opens today in Bangkok, Thailand. View the agenda for the session.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Johan Tarculovski [initial indictment] makes a further appearance before the tribunal at 9:30 AM local time [3:30 AM ET] today. Also today, Vujadin Popovic [ICTY case backgrounder] will make an initial appearance before the tribunal at 3 PM local time [9 AM ET] today. Watch a webcast of proceedings.