[JURIST] Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist [official website] said Tuesday that he hoped the Senate could take up the contentious issue of judicial nominations by next week. During a meeting with the press, Frist said the Senate could finish debate on a highway bill and on emergency funding for US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan by next week. The Senate has remained deadlocked over 10 of President Bush's judicial nominations, which Democrats previously filibustered. Senate Republicans have repeatedly called for an up-or-down vote for each nominee, and suggested a possible rules change that would end the filibuster for judicial nominee votes. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid [official website] said Democrats were prepared to vote on the so-called "nuclear option," with Democrats hoping some moderate Republicans will join in opposing the measure. The issue has been looming since several of the 10 disputed nominations were approved [JURIST report] by the Senate Judiciary Commitee, but Reid and Frist have been unable to broker a compromise [JURIST report]. The two most recently agreed [Reid statement; Frist reponse] to allow the nomination of Thomas Griffith to pass. AP has more.

[JURIST] The newly formed Iraqi government on Tuesday created a 55-member committee that will begin work on drafting the country's permanent constitution by the August 15 deadline prescribed by the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) [text], the interim Iraqi constitution. The committee includes 28 members of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance party, 15 from the Kurdish coalition, eight from former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's secular party, and four others. Only a few Sunni Arabs, mostly from Allawi's party, serve on the committee, but representatives from other Sunni groups will fill an advisory role on the committee. Given the slow progress in forming the government, many lawmakers expect to have to invoke a six-month extension for drafting the constitution. There is strong support for making Islam the primary source of law [JURIST report] for under the charter. Under the TAL, Islam is considered "a source" for law and laws are not to contradict agreed-upon Islamic tenets. The Financial Times has more.

[JURIST] Kenyan prosecutors on Tuesday dropped charges against three men for plotting the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi [State Department backgrounder] that killed 224 people. The three, Salmin Mohammed Khamis, Mohammed Kubwa Seif and Said Saggar Ahmed, still face charges for alleged conspiracy in connection with the 2002 bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel that killed 15 and with a failed rocket attack on an Israeli airliner leaving Mombasa airport after the hotel bombing. Prosecutor Edwin Okello did not say why he was dropping charges for the embassy bombing. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the 2002 attacks, and four others have been charged in connection with them. A Tanzanian man was convicted in absentia for the embassy bombings in Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and he was handed over to the US in 2004 after being captured by Pakistan. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Russia and the European Union [official website] agreed to work on strengthening political and economic relations during a summit [EU press release] Tuesday, but the agreement was tempered by harsh language by Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website] on relations with the Baltic states. During a press conference following the summit, Putin said Russia was working on border agreements with Latvia and Estonia, two former Soviet republics that, along with Lithuania, joined the EU last year. Putin said he hoped the countries would not make "idiotic" territorial demands as part of the agreements. Russia has bristled at resentment from the Baltic states over what many viewed as Soviet occupation of the countries following World War II. The EU-Russia agreement signed today calls for increased cooperation and lowering visa barriers among the nations. The EU has more on relations with Russia [EU backgrounder]. Read Putin's press statement and the four road maps agreed to by EU and Russia. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Tuesday unanimously rejected [opinion, PDF text] a lawsuit brought against Vice-President Dick Cheney for refusing to disclose internal communications of the National Energy Policy Development Group [policy report], Cheney's energy task force [NRDC FOIA documents] composed of government employees. The suit, filed jointly by watchdog group Judicial Watch [advocacy website] and the Sierra Club [advocacy website] had claimed that Cheney's practice of consulting energy firms resulted in energy policies favorable to the industry. The court ruling allows Cheney to refuse to disclose the task force's confidential communications so long as nongovernmental employees do not later vote on any task force measures; the eight-member appeals noted that it was important for the President to be able to seek and receive confidential advice. Judicial Watch had appealed [appellate brief, PDF text] a previous nondisclosure ruling to the US Supreme Court, which by a 7-2 vote [opinion] last June also refused to ask Cheney to disclose the documents [JURIST report], sending the case back [JURIST report] to the Court of Appeals. Read the Sierra Club press release on Tuesday's ruling; the Sierra Club provides additional materials on the course of the litigation. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Connecticut Supreme Court late Monday night ruled that convicted serial killer Michael Ross [advocacy website] was competent to end his death-row appeals [JURIST report], leaving the way open for him to be executed by lethal injection this Friday at 2 AM. Ross is convicted of raping and murdering eight women in Connecticut and New York in the 1980s. The Court affirmed a lower court ruling [JURIST report], rejecting contentions that he overswayed by a narcissism that does not allow him to change his mind after making a decision. Ross will be New England's first execution in 45 years after Connecticut lawmakers recently upheld the state's death penalty [JURIST report]. Despite the latest court ruling, there may still be a delay of execution, as Ross sister Donna Dunham attempts to file an appeal on his behalf citing reasons of mental incompetency following similar attempts made by Ross' father and public defenders. AP has more.

Previously on JURIST:

• Judge sets new execution date for Connecticut killer
• First New England execution in 45 years put on hold
• Ross execution abruptly postponed
• Federal appeals court overturns order delaying Ross execution
• Ross execution postponed pending competency hearings

[JURIST] Due to surging numbers of Iraqis held by the US in prison camps, US military commanders have undertaken a $50 million project to expand three existing prisons and build a fourth. The number of Iraqi prisoners has risen steadily, doubling since October and reaching over 11,350 last week. This figure is only expected to grow in coming months. A riot at Camp Bucca [Wikipedia profile] in April was prompted by extreme overcrowding [JURIST report], with 20-person prison tents being routinely occupied by 25 to 30 prisoners. The International Committee of the Red Cross [advocacy website] has called for an investigation [JURIST report] into that riot. The increase in prisoners has left more US military police stationed at prisons, rather than training Iraqi police to take over. The surge in detainees has been attributed to stepped-up US efforts to combat insurgents, with more raids being conducted. The prisons had almost reached full capacity [Washington Post report] around the Jan. 30 elections, but the number of prisoners has since jumped nearly 20 percent. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] State officials and rights groups have voiced financial and privacy concerns over the Real ID Act [PDF tezt; UPI backgrounder], the controversial identity legislation passed last Thursday [JURIST report] in the US House of Representatives as a rider on an $82B emergency supplemental appropriations bill [PDF text] for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and headed for likely approval in the Senate [Red Herring report] later this week, perhaps even later today. Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, vice chairman of the National Governors Association, says that governors are looking at their options in the face of an unfunded mandate requiring states to verify the multiple identifications to be required from applicants for state driver's licenses; other state officials suggest that a court challenge to the bill may even be in the offing. Virginia's motor vehicle department has estimated its own compliance costs at approximately $237 million. The act allows the Homeland Security secretary to grant money to states to help cover costs, but does not guarantee it do so. Meanwhile rights groups and citizens are objecting [UnRealID.com advocacy website] to the extra red tape, and extra time and extra governmental intrusiveness represented by the new regulations. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, the author of the act, believes that it must be passed to combat terrorism [press release]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Hans Blix [official profile], former UN chief weapons inspector and current head of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission [official website], said in a New York press conference Monday that the US is undermining its position as a nuclear power player by not taking the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as seriously as it should. Blix believes that American officials led by Undersecretary of State John Bolton [official profile], now under consideration as the next US ambassador to the UN, has unduly questioned the importance of treaties and international law, harming attempts to prevent North Korea and Iran from becoming nuclear. The UN 2005 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference [official website] which began last Monday [JURIST report] has been stalled because the US has been so slow in taking steps towards disarmament, a requirement of the nuclear test-ban treaty [PDF text], leading to conflicts over agenda issues with both Iran [JURIST report] and Egypt [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Fifty-nine percent of Germans are in favor of the new EU Constitution [text] according to a new Infratest poll released just days before the Bundestag [official website, in English], the lower house of the German parliament, votes on the pact Thursday. There will be a second vote in the German upper house, the Bundesrat [official website, in English] later in May. Only 15 percent of respondents told pollsters they were wary of the Constitution, and would not vote for it in the event of a referendum. The admittance of new states into the European Union, such as Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, has caused some concerns for German conservatives [Deutsche Welle report, in English], who worry that the addition of those countries may put pressure on German jobs. Despite these concerns, the constitution is expected to pass the lower house easily and most German politicians are currently focusing on a pro-constitution campaign in France, where German and French politicians are working together [JURIST report] to garner more public support for the agreement, which must be approved by all 25 EU member states before it takes effect. Deutsche Welle has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of State [official website] said Monday that it will not release internal documents requested by Senate Democrats serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee [official website], set to vote Thursday on the nomination of John Bolton [official profile] as US ambassador to the UN [US mission to the UN official website]. The Department insisted that the documents requested, containing information about Bolton's current job as Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, are not necessary, since all required information has already been provided to the committee. The committee has received more than 500 documents from the State Department and US Agency for International Development [official website] as well as 125 documents from various intelligence agencies. The top-ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joseph Biden [official website], countered that Republicans received all the documents they requested, while the Democrats did not. During April confirmation hearings, critics alleged that Bolton was a "serial abuser" of officials below him and could not work with those who questioned his motives. In an interview [text] Monday, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice [White House profile] stated, "I see nothing that suggests that John was anything but an interested consumer of intelligence and asked difficult questions." The chair of the Foreign Relation Committees, GOP Senator Richard Lugar [official website], has predicted that the Bolton nomination will pass the committee on a party line vote, 10-8, but the vote has been delayed [JURIST report] several times so far. AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge Monday ordered former UN Oil-for-Food inquiry [Independent Inquiry Committee website] investigator Robert Parton to cease distribution of commission documents [JURIST report] subpoenaed by the US House of Representatives International Relations Committee [official website]. US District Judge Ricardo Urbina issued a 10-day restraining order sought by ICC chair Paul Volcker [Wikipedia profile] until both sides resolve the issue. Parton resigned [JURIST report] from the IIC in April because he believed that the probe made into Kofi Annan's involvement in the Oil-for-Food program scandal was not thorough enough, and his sentiments have been echoed by many GOP members in Congress, who had launched their own investigation and have thusfar refused to return the documents to the UN [JURIST report]. Volcker claimed that Parton had signed a confidentiality agreement forbidding his distribution of the materials [press release]; Volcker's legal action against Parton seeks the return of any commission documents taken. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Former Philadelphia City Treasurer Corey Kemp was convicted Monday on more than 20 counts for accepting kickbacks during his time in office [JURIST report]. The US Department of Justice had initially charged 12 men [DOJ press release] for corruption in connection with Kemp's financial transactions, including attorney Ronald A. White and Commerce Bank Pennsylvania [corporate website] president Glenn Holck and regional vice-president Stephen Umbrell. Kemp had received thousands of dollars, a trip to the Super Bowl, a new deck on his house, and parties thrown in his honor. Kemp, Holck, and Umbrell were all convicted on the main conspiracy charge, but White died in November [Philadelphia Inquirer report] while awaiting trial. Two other co-defendants, including White's mistress, were convicted on lesser charges. AP has more. The Philadelphia Inquirer has extensive background material on the federal corruption probe, which is ongoing.

[JURIST] Cardinal Roberto Tucci, president of Vatican Radio [official website] and VR director general Father Pasquale Borgomeo were convicted Monday in an Italian court of polluting the enviroment with high-intensity electromagnetic waves and were handed 10-day suspended jail sentences. A 2001 epidemiological study [text] found a higher incidence of leukemia among the population living in areas near a Vatican Radio transmitter in northern Rome. A lawyer for the two radio executives has announced that he will appeal the decision. A third VR executive was acquitted. A previous case against the radio was dismissed in 2002 [BBC report] when it was ruled that charges against Vatican Radio could not be brought in Italian court because Vatican City [official website] is an independent sovereign state. Vatican Radio has issued a press release on the ruling (in Italian) and provides background material (in Italian) on the controversy from its perspective. BBC News has more.