[JURIST] The US Supreme Court announced Sunday evening that the body of late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died Saturday [JURIST report], will lie in repose in the Great Hall [photo] of the court on Tuesday, September 6, from 10:30 AM ET to 10 PM ET, and then again Wednesday, September 7, from 10 AM ET to Noon. A funeral service for family and friends will be held Wednesday at 2 PM ET St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington [official website], with a private interment afterwards at Arlington National Cemetary [official website] in Virginia. The last Chief Justice to lie in repose at the Court was Chief Justice Warren Burger, who died in 1996. AP has more.

With Rehnquist's death the leadership of the court falls by seniority to 85-year old justice John Paul Stevens, a more liberal Ford appointee who may well be in charge whwn the new Court term starts in October, although if that is the case court tradition dictates that he remain in his own seat next to the Chief's chair, which would be empty and draped in black. Stevens took over some of Rehnquist's duties when the Chief Justice was undergoing cancer treatment late last year. This summer he has been rather active on the speaking circuit, publicly calling two major rulings from the Court's 2004 term "unwise" [JURIST report] and criticizing the current US death penalty system [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Washington Post reported Sunday that Bush administration officials sent a draft legal memorandum to Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco just before midnight Friday asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, according to a source within the state's emergency operations center. Administration officials had been seeking direct unified control over local police and National Guard units that would otherwise be under the Governor's jurisdiction. According to a senior Bush official, the President has the power (by state request or unilaterally) to federalize National Guard troops and put down civil unrest under the Insurrection Act [text; 2001 Congressional testimony on potential legal and other problems with federalizing the Guard during state emergencies, PDF]. Suspecting a political motive, however, state officials refused to make the request, recognizing its implications for state authority over a state emergency and arguing it would be analogous to a federal declaration of martial law, a legal condition that both the US military [JURIST report] and state authorities [JURIST report] had previously been at public pains to avoid. The next day Blanco shored up her authority over the situation by setting up a state relief fund and calling in former Clinton administration FEMA director James Lee Witt [professional profile] to advise on the state relief effort. Federal officials all the way up to President have suggested that state and local governments were overwhelmed by the scope of the disaster and were slow to respond, but that they themselves could not have moved more quickly because, in the words of Homeland Secutity Secretary Michael Chertoff, "our constitutional system really places the primary authority in each state with the governor." The Post quotes its state source as saying "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," The Washington Post has more.

3:25 PM ET - In an article posted on its website Sunday, Newsweek magazine notes that legal wrangling was also going on within the Bush administration as the situation in New Orleans deteriorated:

President Bush could have "federalized" the National Guard in an instant. That's what his father, President George H.W. Bush, did after the Los Angeles riots in 1992.... But after Katrina, a strange paralysis set in. For days, Bush's top advisers argued over legal niceties about who was in charge, according to three White House officials who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the negotiations. Beginning early in the week, Justice Department lawyers presented arguments for federalizing the Guard, but Defense Department lawyers fretted about untrained 19-year-olds trying to enforce local laws, according to a senior law-enforcement official who requested anonymity citing the delicate nature of the discussions.

[JURIST] Iraqi government spokesman Laith Kubba Sunday confirmed earlier reports [JURIST report] that Saddam Hussein [Wikipedia profile] and several associates would face trial before the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website] October 19 for the execution of 143 Shiite residents of the town of Dujail [JURIST report]. Also slated to stand trial for the killings are intelligence chief Barazan Ibrahim, former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, and Dujail Baath party official Awad Hamed al-Bandar. Hussein, who could face the death penalty if convicted [JURIST report], will be tried for other alleged crimes in about a dozen separate trials. AP has more.

[JURIST] President Bush Sunday paid personal tribute to Chief Justice William Rehnquist [JURIST news archive], who died Saturday evening at the age of 80 [JURIST report]. Speaking in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, he said of the late jurist:

He was extremely well respected for his powerful intellect. He was respected for his deep commitment to the rule of law and his profound devotion to duty. He provided superb leadership for the federal court system, improving the delivery of justice for the American people, and earning the admiration of his colleagues throughout the judiciary.

Even during a period of illness, Chief Justice Rehnquist stayed on the job to complete the work of his final Supreme Court term. I was honored and I was deeply touched when he came to the Capitol for the swearing-in last January. He was a man of character and dedication. His departure represents a great loss for the Court and for our country....

More than half a century has passed since William H. Rehnquist first came to the Supreme Court as a young law clerk. All of his years William Rehnquist revered the Constitution and laws of the United States. He led the judicial branch of government with tremendous wisdom and skill. He honored America with a lifetime of service, and America will honor his memory.

[JURIST] An Egyptian court ruled Saturday that private monitoring groups can observe next Wednesday's presidential poll, the country's first multi-candidate election [JURIST report]. The court held that the state election committee, which had opposed outside monitors [JURIST report], does not have the authority to decide the issue. Egyptian President Honsi Mubarak [Wikipedia profile], who had also opposed monitoring and is expected to be reelected, told the newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm that "Nothing can be hidden in the era of the open skies. The elections will be free, fair and transparent." The court also ruled on 39 other election provisions and sent several to the Supreme Constitutional Court, including a requirement that candidates collect signatures from Mubarak officials before being allowed to run. Both decisions are subject to appeal. AP has more. Egyptelection.com has local coverage. Meanwhile, six Egyptian rights Saturday groups urged citizens to vote against Mubarak because of the lack of guarantees that the election will be fair [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

2:27 PM ET - The Egyptian electoral commission says it will persist in banning private monitoring groups, defying the court decision. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi lawmakers said Saturday that new discussions on the text of the Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive] are underway, following calls for national unity after a Baghdad stampede of Shiite religious celebrants incited by the rumor of a suicide bomber that killed nearly 1,000 [Reuters report] earlier this week. Among other things, Sunni leaders want new wording declaring Iraq part of the Arab world. The current constitutional text calls only the Arab people of Iraq part of the Arab world. The Sunni Congress of the People of Iraq issued a statement Saturday urging that a revised document reflect an Arab identity and rejecting the "division of Iraq and squandering of its wealth and resources under the pretext of federalism." Sunni representatives confirmed they were negotiating with Kurdish and Shia counterparts. Sunni negotiator Saad Janabi said, "I think it will be possible to change the wording of some articles." Aljazeera has more.

4:12 PM ET - An Iraqi official said Sunday that the renewed constitutional talks had complicated the printing of five million copies of the draft charter in preparation for the October 15 referendum. A senior member of the National Assembly's constitution drafting committee told Reuters, however, that whether last-minute changes were made to the document or not, "we will start printing it this week." Reuters has more.