[JURIST] An anonymous Western diplomat told AFP Wednesday that the United States is lobbying for Iran to go before the UN Security Council [official website] if it does not comply with a September 3 deadline to stop the nuclear fuel operations it resumed earlier this month [JURIST report]. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website] began investigating Iran's nuclear program in February 2003 and anticipates receiving an updated report on September 3. The US has been privately working with the IAEA to obtain their agreement to send Iran to the Security Council after the group called on Iran to cease its nuclear fuel work [JURIST report; IAEA resolution]. The agency has a scheduled meeting to discuss the September 3 report on September 19, but the US is pushing for an emergency meeting on September 6 or 7. A senior European diplomat said countries including China, Russia and South Africa do not support sending Iran to the Security Council because the IAEA has not formally found the country in noncompliance with safeguards under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [text, PDF]. Read the IAEA's 2004 report [PDF] on Iran's nuclear activities. AFP has more.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [Wikipedia profile] said Wednesday that the country plans to offer new negotiation proposals with Europe over its uranium enrichment program. The president said he "wants to continue talks with all," but did not specify whether this includes the US. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Kenyan judge Wednesday called for medical examinations of six suspects who allege they were tortured by police in the murder investigation of Roman Catholic Bishop Luigi Locati [Wikipedia profile], who was shot to death in July. The men claim that the police burned them with cigarettes, suspended them upside down, denied food and water, and beat them. The judge ordered that a police doctor examine the men with their lawyers present and report to the court within six days. The six murder suspects, including Kenyan Catholic priest Reverend Guyo Wako Malley, have been charged with Bishop Locati's death as part of an alleged plan to redirect church funds from the bishop to Rev. Malley's office. All the men have pleaded not guilty and a trial date has not yet been set. AP has more; from Nairobi, The Nation has local coverage. Police brutality and torture have been alleged to be commonplace in Kenya [Irish Examirer report].

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's states brief, a New Jersey court of appeals ruled [PDF text] today that out-of-state companies with no physical presence in the state may be taxed on sales of their goods. State Treasurer [state treasury website] John McCormac said the ruling "affirms our long-standing interpretation of tax responsibility for companies doing business in New Jersey and obligated to pay their fair share to the state government." The ruling came in a dispute on whether Delaware-based Lanco Inc., which licenses Lane Bryant to sell trademarked items in its clothing stores, was obligated to file a return under New Jersey's corporate business code. The dollar value of the ruling has not been estimated. AP has more.

In other state legal news ...

• Texas Governor Rick Perry today announced [Governor's press release] the appointment of Don Willet to the Texas Supreme Court [official website]. Willet helped President George Bush establish faith-based programs in Texas and Washington, and in 2002 he was appointed by Bush as deputy US assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Policy. He currently serves as the top advisor to the Texas Attorney General. Willet is Governor Perry's 5th appointment to the Supreme Court. Texas's Houston Chronicle has local coverage.
  
  
• A Minnesota court of appeals has ruled [PDF text] that a gay pastor cannot sue for discrimination after he was forced to resign from this teaching position, under the Minnesota Human Rights Act [PDF text] because religious organizations are exempt when hiring employees for faith-based assignments. The court ruled that to intervene between the pastor and the Christian school he formerly taught at would be a "prohibited relationship between church and state." The pastor argued that he should be able to continue his employment because part of his work was secular in nature. Minnesota's Pioneer Press has local coverage.
  
  
• A proposed amendment to the Florida constitution to ban same-sex marriage is nearing the 61,113 signatures required for review by the state Supreme Court. The proposed amendment defines marriage as a union between a man and woman and states that "no other legal union that is treated as marriage ... shall be valid or recognized." Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida [website], said the possible amendment would block civil unions and threaten domestic partnership laws. Florida4marriage.org [website] needs 471 more signatures by February 1, 2006 to have the proposal reviewed. The New York Blade has more.

[JURIST] A US federal judge has ruled that there is enough evidence for families of the 17 sailors who died in the 2000 terror attack [Wikipedia backgrounder; US DOD inquiry report] in Yemen on the USS Cole [official website] to pursue their lawsuit against the Sudanese government. US District Judge Robert G. Doumar said that there is a sufficient amount of evidence showing that the Sudanese government cooperated with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. The lawsuit alleges that Sudan helped finance the attack and allowed an al-Qaeda operative to ship explosives to Yemen. The case is scheduled for trial March 7, but may be delayed. Two of the six men convicted [JURIST report] for the attack were later sentenced to death [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former Abu Ghraib commander Janis Karpinski [JURIST news archive] has alleged that US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld personally signed a memorandum authorizing extreme interrogation techniques used at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive]. In an interview [text] with Thomas Jefferson School of Law Professor Marjorie Cohn published Wednesday on truthout.org, Karpinski said that when she first visited the prison cellblock where prisoner abuse was captured in photographs, the military's Criminal Investigation Division had removed everything except for a memorandum:

It was a memorandum signed by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, authorizing a short list, maybe 6 or 8 techniques: use of dogs; stress positions; loud music; deprivation of food; keeping the lights on, those kinds of things. And then a handwritten message over to the side that appeared to be the same handwriting as the signature, and that signature was Secretary Rumsfeld's. And it said, "Make sure this happens," with two exclamation points. And that was the only thing that they had. Everything else had been confiscated.

[JURIST] Senators Charles Schumer [official website] and Russ Feingold [official website] said Wednesday that they expected US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts to address why he chose not to recuse himself [Schumer press release] from the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [PDF opinion text] case before the DC Circuit challenging the Bush adminstration's position on the legality of military commissions when he was already being interviewed by the White House as a potential US Supreme Court nominee. The lawsuit was decided in favor of the government three months after Roberts had begun interviewing [AP report].

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the only female on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that she will especially concentrate on Roberts' policies on abortion [AP report] and the limits on congressional authority, especially while setting social policy. Although the Judiciary Committee has enough Republican votes to send Roberts to the Senate floor, as a moderate Democrat, Feinstein's vote might influence other Democrats there. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter [official website] has meanwhile said in a letter [PDF text] to Roberts that he will scrutinize him on the high court's activisim, believing that some justices may consider themselves "super legislatures" who usurp congressional authority when making public policy decisions. AP has more.

In further Roberts news Wednesday, two influential Washington lobbying groups staked out public positions on his nomination. The US Chamber of Commerce [advocacy website] announced its support [press release] of Roberts, while the liberal group People for the American Way [advocacy website] announced they will not support this Bush nominee [press release]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] has ruled [PDF opinion] that a Navajo tribal court can proceed with its prosecution of Russell Means even though he is not a member of the tribe. Means, a member of the Ogala-Sioux tribe, was charged with misdemeanors under the Navajo Code for threatening and battering his father-in-law and another man when he visited the Navajo reservation in 1997. Means argued that Navajo courts could not prosecute him because he was not a member of the tribe, but the Ninth Circuit disagreed, ruling that under 1990 amendments to the Indian Civil Rights Act [text], the Navajo Nation [official website] "is empowered ... to prosecute and punish Indians for misdemeanors, despite their status as nonmembers of the tribe." AP has more.

[JURIST] Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson [personal website] said Wednesday that his remarks earlier this week seeming to call for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez [BBC profile] were misinterpreted. Speaking Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network's The 700 Club [program website], Robertson said that the US has the ability "to take [Chavez] out" [recorded video; JURIST report] and that the US should exercise that ability in order to prevent Venezuela from becoming "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism." Appearing on the same program Wednesday, Robertson now says that his comment was misinterpreted [recorded video]. Robertson explained: "I said our special forces could take him out. Take him out could be a number of things including kidnapping." Venezuelan officials have called for the White House to condemn Robertson's statements, and while the White House has not yet made a statement, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has dismissed the comments saying Robertson is a private citizen. Reuters has more.

5:29 PM ET - Robertson issued a statement [text] late Wednesday afternoon apologizing for calling for Chavez's assassination. Robertson said that his statement was "spoke[n] in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him." AP has more.

[JURIST] David Radler, former President and COO of Hollinger International [corporate website] and former publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, will plead guilty to fraud charges, his lawyer said Wednesday. Radler was indicted [PDF indictment; PDF press release; JURIST report] last week on federal mail and wire fraud charges for allegedly diverting more than $32 million from Hollinger [JURIST news archive] through a series of self-dealing transactions. Though the terms of Radler's plea agreement have not yet been made public, there is speculation that Radler will testify against former Hollinger CEO Conrad Black [JURIST news archive] who is facing the prospect of criminal charges [JURIST report] for looting the company. Both Black and Radler are the subject of a civil suit [PDF complaint; JURIST report] brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for engaging "in a fraudulent and deceptive scheme to divert cash and assets." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Aruba's Superior Court has ruled that a lesbian couple legally married in the Netherlands has the right to register their marriage in the autonomous Caribbean republic that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands [Wikipedia backgrounder] (includings the Netherland, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba) even though same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] is not authorized under Aruba's civil code. Lawyers for the Aruban government had argued that although same-sex marriage is legal in the Netherlands, Dutch laws that require members of the Kingdom to recognize each other's legal documents do not trump the island's right to self-rule. The court ruled in favor of the couple, saying that "The Dutch marriage can be inscribed in the register. Since Aruba is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it must comply with demands of the Kingdom." The Aruban government has said it will appeal the decision to Holland's Supreme Court. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawrence Greenfeld, former director of the US Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) [official website], has been demoted, several months after he complained that the Bush administration was interfering with the release of a report detailing racial profiling in traffic stops. In April, as BJS prepared to release Contacts between Police and the Public: Findings from the 2002 National Survey [abstract; PDF full text], political supervisors within the Justice Department are said to have ordered that Greenfeld remove from an accompanying press release certain details on disparities in how racial groups were treated once stopped. Greenfeld refused to do so, saying that the changes would make the press release misleading. As a result, the report was posted online without the issuance of a press release or a briefing to members of Congress on the results of the study. White House officials have said that no political pressure was ever exerted over BJS and refused to comment on the circumstances of Greenfeld's job change. Wednesday's New York Times has more.

[JURIST] US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff [official profile] said Tuesday that the US Department of Homeland Security [official website] is preparing to increase its efforts to deal with the problem of illegal immigration. Last week, Arizona declared a state of emergency [PDF declaration text; JURIST report] along its borders with Mexico in response to what Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano called [PDF press release] the "growing devastation caused by the crimes associated with illegal immigration." New Mexico has similarly declared a state of emergency [press release] on its Mexican border because of the "ravages and terror of human smuggling, drug smuggling, kidnapping, murder, destruction of property and death of livestock." Acknowledging that federal efforts to secure the border must be increased, Chertoff told reporters Tuesday that his department's strategy includes strengthening the deportation process so that illegal immigrants will not be set free, expediting deportations by increasing the availability of lawyers and judges and tracking down illegal immigrants that do not attend deportation hearings. DHS also plans to hire more Border Patrol [official website] agents and install additional surveillance cameras. Chertoff also called for Congress to pass a proposed new temporary worker program [White House backgrounder] which would legalize entry into the US for some migrant workers, freeing up immigration enforcement agents to focus on more serious offenders. Wednesday's New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The British government Wednesday unveiled a list of "unacceptable behaviors" [press release] that would qualify foreigners inciting hatred to be deported or barred from entry into the UK. Home Secretary Charles Clarke [official profile] said the measure, designed to crack down on radical Islamic preachers, is a way to counter "those who seek to foster hatred or promote terrorism." The unacceptable behaviors apply only to non-UK citizens and include expressing views which foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in pursuit of particular beliefs, and seeking to provoke others to terrorist acts. The incitement can take the form of written, published or distributed material, as well as websites and public speaking. The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) [advocacy website] has already called the measure "unworkable and oppressive" [press release] and sayz the new grounds for deportation amount to the "criminalization of thought, conscience and belief." Amnesty International said Wednesday that the security measures represent a serious attack on human rights [press release] and that if British officials use the policy to deport people to countries where they were at risk of being tortured, this would be a violation of international law. Liberty UK echoed these concerns:

we believe it is better for terrorist suspects be tried than shuffled around the world. If they have to be deported then at the very least there must be corroboration and robust involvement from international human rights monitors.

[JURIST] Six unidentified members of California's Fullerton-based Alpha Company Army National Guard have been accused of mistreating detainees in Iraq and will face courts-martial [Wikipedia backgrounder], officials announced Tuesday after investigating reports of abuse by 12 soldiers. The soldiers face various charges including mistreatment of a person under their control, assault, making a false statement, and obstruction of justice. Two of the most serious cases will be handled as general courts-martial, four will be treated as special courts-martial, and two other lesser offenses have already been handled through summary courts-martial [Military.com backgrounder], but the outcomes have not been made available. The courts-martial will occur in Baghdad and until then, the company has been placed on restrictive duty. AP has more.

[JURIST] Hong Kong High Court Judge Michael Hartmann ruled [decision text, in English] Wednesday that laws prohibiting gay sex are unconstitutional and discriminatory and violate Hong Kong's Basic Law [text and background] and the Bill of Rights [text]. Under existing law in the former British colony, now a Special Administrative Region [HK government website] of the People's Republic of China, men under 21 who engage in sodomy can be given a life sentence, while heterosexual and lesbian relationships are legal after the age of 16. Hartmann said the laws "discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. (They) are demeaning of gay men who are, through the legislation, stereotyped as deviant." Gay activists welcomed the decision, saying that this is the first time a Hong Kong court has held that sexual orientation is a protected ground against discrimination. Hong Kong government officials have said that they will study Wednesday's decision. Though homosexuality has never been officially banned in China [BBC backgrounder], in the past gays were persecuted under "hooliganism" laws and until 2001, homosexuality was considered a mental illness. In Hong Kong, homosexual behavior was illegal until 1991 [Wikipedia backgrounder] and several attempts to introduce anti-discrimination legislation in the 1990s failed. AP has more.

[JURIST] The director of Russia's federal penal service has denied reports made on Tuesday that Mikhail Khodorkovsky [JURIST news archive; defense website], the former CEO of oil company Yukos [corporate website], has gone on a hunger strike [JURIST report] to protest the move of his business partner Platon Lebedev [Wikipedia profile] to an isolation cell. Khodorkovsky, who is serving a nine year sentence for fraud and tax evasion, made a statement through his lawyer [text] Tuesday that he went on a hunger strike to show support for Lebedev, who Khodorkovsky says was put into an isolation cell as revenge for Khodorkovsky's articles and interviews. Under prison regulations, inmates must inform officials of a hunger strike so that they can be placed under medical supervision. RIA Novosti has more.

[JURIST] Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds began a new round of talks in Iraq Wednesday, seeking to agree on several disputed areas of the draft Iraqi constitution [JURIST report; JURIST news archive]. Many, including US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad [official profile], nonetheless believe it's unlikely an agreement will be made before the new Thursday deadline. On Tuesday, Sunnis repeated their complaint that by submitting a draft constitution, Shiites and Kurds violated a promise to that no document would be considered unless all groups agreed to it. They said, "If the wording is not re-examined in a way that serves the interests of the country and ensures equality for everybody, then this draft is considered as rejected, as a whole and in details." Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [Wikipedia profile], called for cooperation with the Sunnis [AP report] and said stability cannot be reached without consensus. AP has more.