[JURIST] With Democratic Senators divided on Chief Justice nominee Judge John Roberts [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive], it appeared all but certain Wednesday that he would be confirmed as early as Thursday by a solidly bipartisan Senate vote. At least 76 senators - including 21 Democrats - have thusfar indicated they will support the 50-year-old Roberts, set to be the youngest chief justice on the Court since Chief Justice John Marshall [Oyez profile] took the center seat in 1801. At the same time, Democrats have warned President Bush that he should nominate a moderate to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor [Wikipedia profile]. Bush is expected to make that nomination [JURIST report] soon after Roberts is confirmed. The full Senate [official website] is scheduled to continue its week-long debate on Roberts' confirmation at 9:30 AM ET Thursday. Watch a live webcast of the session. AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal district judge Wednesday rejected a claim by former US Attorney General John Ashcroft [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] that the government should be exempt from certain regulations during national emergencies and allowed the continuation of a lawsuit by two Muslim men who said they were abused after being arrested after the Sept. 11 attacks. In a 70-page opinion, US District Judge John Gleeson [official profile] said Ashcroft's argument had no statutory or constitutional basis. The lawsuit naming Ashcroft and other federal officials as defendants was filed by Egyptian Ehab Elmaghraby and Pakistani Javaid Iqbal, who allege that they were beaten, starved and violated with a flashlight while they were held in solitary confinement [New York Times report] at the federal detention center in Brooklyn following the terror attacks. Both men were deported after serving time for non-terror offenses, but they argued they were not allowed to appeal their placement in solitary confinement. In seeking to have the suit dismissed, Ashcroft argued that the government did not need to follow regulations allowing appeals due to the threat of terror attacks. AP has more. A number of reports by the US Department of Justice Inspector General, the most recent [JURIST report] in February 2005, flagged mistreatment of Arab and Muslim detainees held at the Brooklyn detention center after 9/11.

[JURIST] The US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] has opened an official investigation into the finances of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist [official profile]. Sources close to Frist said the SEC had authorized an investigation into Frist's sale of HCA Inc. [corporate website] stock in June, although the SEC has not yet publicly announced the investigation. A formal investigation gives the SEC greater powers, including authority to subpoena documents and witnesses to testify. Frist requested his stock in HCA, the nation's largest hospital chain founded by Frist's father and brother [HCA backgrounder], be sold in early June, only weeks before the company said its second-quarter earnings would not meet expectations. HCA stock prices fell by almost $5 following the announcement. Frist's brother, Thomas F. Frist, Jr. [official profile], serves as a director for HCA. The US Justice Department is also investigating Frist's stock sale, while both HCA and Frist said they intended to fully cooperate with the investigation. Several ethics groups, including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [advocacy website], also urged the Senate ethics committee to look into the matter [CREW news release]. Frist released a statement [text] regarding his finances on his website earlier this week. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Two class action lawsuits accusing major US investment banks of price-fixing practices during initial public offerings of technology stocks during the late 1990s were reinstated Wednesday by the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals [official website]. The court wrote that the plaintiffs had alleged an "epic Wall Street conspiracy" on the part of Bear Stearns, Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and other banks to drive up prices of technology stocks from their issue prices and that a district judge had erred in dismissing the case on the basis of conflicts between antitrust and securities laws. The plaintiffs have also alleged that the banks used "tie-ins" to unload less valuable stocks by requiring investors to purchase them to have a shot at stocks in the highest demand. Judge William H. Pauley originally dismissed the class actions [JURIST report] in November 2003. AP has more.

[JURIST] Many Iraqis on Wednesday expressed outrage after Pfc. Lynndie England [JURIST news archive], notorious for her role in abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, was sentenced to three years [JURIST report] in prison on Tuesday. Some accused the US of having a double standard, arguing that the sentence would have been more severe if England had been accused of abusing Americans. England faced a maximum nine-year sentence after she was convicted [JURIST report] of abusing Iraqi prisoners, photos of which ignited a scandal over US military practices for interrogation and detention. England was the last of a group of soldiers charged in connection with events at Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive]. Prosecutors had sought a four- to six-year sentence for England, who apologized for her actions [JURIST report] following her conviction. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Army investigators have not found sufficient evidence to charge any one for the release of graphic photos of Iraqi war casualties on the Internet, an Army spokesman said Wednesday. Although the Army Criminal Investigation Division [official website] is unlikely to file criminal charges, spokesman Paul Boyce said disciplinary action was possible under Article 134 [text] of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which bars behavior that undermines order and discipline. The photos, which graphically showed the remains of Iraqis allegedly killed in US attacks, were anonymously posted, leaving the Pentagon concerned that the photos may have been released by US soldiers. News reports earlier this week suggested soldiers were trading the corpse pictures for access to online pornography. The Council on American-Islamic Relations [advocacy website] protested the photos [CAIR news release] in a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday. AP has more.

[JURIST] The European Parliament [official website] Wednesday postponed a key vote on Turkey's potential membership in the bloc and also approved a resolution calling for Turkey [JURIST news archive] to recognize the Armenian genocide [Wikipedia backgrounder]. EU [JURIST news archive] legislators agreed by a 311-285 margin to delay ratification of a expanded Turkey-EU customs union out of frustration with Turkey's refusal to recognize Cyprus, part of the expanded union along nine other new EU members. The delay is not, however, expected to impact the start of negotiations over Turkey's potential membership in the EU [EU enlargement backgrounder] expected to start Oct. 3. The EU resolution on the Armenian genocide follows an expression of European displeasure [JURIST report] at a Turkish court's recent effort to block a conference on the post-1915 killings [JURIST report], which Turkey has traditionally claimed were not genocide. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would ignore the resolution. The European Parliament has a news release on the session. AP has more.

[JURIST] In Wednesday's environmental law news, the Swiss delegation at the Conference of the Parties of the Rotterdam Convention, currently meeting in Rome, has called for the Secretariats of three international environmental conventions to be combined into one headquarters. The Rotterdam Convention [official website] is aimed at regulating the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals, the Stockholm Convention [official website] is focused on limiting the production and use of certain chemicals, and the Basel Convention [official website] is a comprehensive agreement on the movement and disposal of hazardous and other wastes. The proposal hopes to consolidate some of the administrative tasks of the Conventions to avoid duplication and improve efficiency. All three Conventions will need to approve the proposal. Swissinfo has more.

In other environmental law news...

• Greece's national railroad, the Hellenic Railways Organization [official website], has settled a case brought by its employees over the presence of asbestos found in some railcars used by the company on its Balkan routes. The workers have agreed to drop their injunction claim in exchange for a 7 percent pay hike. Kathimerini has more.
  
  
• The Philippines government has decided the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) [official website] will take over automobile emissions testing, according to DENR Secretary Mike Defensor [official profile]. The move will include the revocation of licenses of current privately owned emissions testing centers, with the goal of improving compliance under the Philippine Clean Air Act [text]. The Bohol Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] Four Iraq war protesters have claimed victory after they were acquitted on federal conspiracy charges and convicted on lesser trespassing charges in the first federal conspiracy trial of anti-war protestors [JURIST report] since the Vietnam War. The group, known as the St. Patrick's Four [advocacy website], were arrested after throwing blood on the walls of a Army recruitment office in 2003 outside Ithaca, NY to protest the war in Iraq. The protesters were charged in federal court after a state court prosecution ended in mistrial in 2004. The four were all acquitted of felony charges of conspiracy to force, intimidate and threaten federal officers, but all four were convicted of damage to property and trespass. The four called the trial a victory, even though they were convicted on lesser charges and were prevented from testifying on certain subjects throughout the trial. Sentencing is scheduled for January. The St. Patrick's Four have a news release on the outcome of the trial. The Ithaca Journal has local coverage. The New Standard has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge has ruled that a decision by the Arizona License Plate Commission [AZ DOT website] to reject "choose life" license plates supported by pro-life groups in the state did not violate the constitutional rights of the groups. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt held that the Commission's decision did not violate the free speech and equal protection rights of the Arizona Life Coalition [advocacy website], which had sought special license plates. The Arizona Life Coalition said it would appeal the ruling to the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Coalition had sought the plates under a state program [ALC backgrounder] allowing specialty license plates. Other courts around the country have previously ruled on the issuance of special license plates before. Last year, the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down anti-abortion plates [JURIST report] in South Carolina, while the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in April upheld similar plates [JURIST report] against a challenge in Louisiana. AP has more.

[JURIST] Dutch prosecutors have begun to try 250 of the almost 50,000 people fined for failure to produce valid identification since the country's ID law came into effect on January 1, 2005. The law, intended to stop terrorism and passed in the wake of the murder of outspoken filmmaker Theo Van Gogh [JURIST report] by an Islamic extremist, requires all Dutch citizens over the age of 14 to produce a passport, driver's license or national ID card at the demand of a police officer, or face a fine of 50 euros ($60). Dutch civil rights groups have criticized the legislation as infringing on civil liberties and being an ineffective protection against terrorism and crime in general. Similar concerns have been voiced elsewhere with regard to UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke's proposal [Guardian report] to require those in the EU with ID cards to also provide their fingerprints, and government plans in the US to speed travel through voluntary iris scans, finger printing and background checks. US federal identity legislation inserted in an emergency appropriations bill [JURIST report; Real ID Act JURIST news archive] in May of this year mandates that after 2008, anyone without an approved state ID issued under the act will not be permitted to travel by air or Amtrak, enter federal buildings, or open a bank account. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Over seventy percent of Iranian MPs Wednesday supported a draft bill to suspend International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website] inspections of the country's nuclear facilities until the UN watchdog acknowledges Iran's right to pursue nuclear technology. The move is in response to a recent IAEA resolution [PDF; JURIST report] declaring Iran in "non-compliance" with safeguards required by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [text]. Currently, the IAEA inspects Iran's nuclear facilities under an Additional Protocol [IAEA report] to Iran's NPT safeguards agreement intended to improve international confidence in the country. According to parliamentary Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, the voluntary nature of the agreement allows Iran to ignore its terms when necessary. Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) [official website] Secretary Ali Larijani said Tuesday the latest IAEA action lacked a legal foundation, called for a member-state review of the resolution, and stated that Iran's response would be based on the agency's statues and the NPT. To become law and suspend IAEA inspections, the draft bill must now be approved by the parliamentary energy, security and foreign policy commissions and the Guardian Council. IRNA and Radio Free Europe have more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that a Texas grand jury has issued an indictment for US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay [official website]. Earlier this month, an indictment was issued [JURIST report] against a political action committee formed by DeLay and a Texas business group on charges relating to campaign contributions for DeLay's 2002 congressional campaign. Subsequently, two campaign group officials were charged [JURIST report] with violating Texas election law and criminal conspiracy to violate the election law.

12:49 PM ET - According to his lawyer, DeLay has been charged with criminal conspiracy along with John Colyandro, the former executive director of Texans for a Republican Majority [Wikipedia backgrounder], and Jim Ellis, the head of DeLay's national political committee. Under Texas state law the charge is a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. According to House Republican party rules, DeLay will be forced to temporarily step down from his leadership post. AP has more.

1:36 PM ET - The indictment [PDF text] is now available, via FindLaw.

2:53 PM ET - In a statement Wednesday, DeLay said that he has "done nothing wrong" and will be cleared of all allegations. AP has more.

[JURIST] In the wake of increased international pressure, a military court in Nepal has sentenced an army colonel and two captains to six months in jail for their involvement in the 2004 death of a 15-year old teenage girl accused of being a Maoist rebel. The court noted that Colonel Bobby Khatri and his men failed to follow proper procedure when interrogating the girl, and were ultimately responsible for her death. According to the human rights group Informal Sector Service Center [advocacy website], the ongoing battle between the government and Maoist rebels [SAAG backgrounder; HRW report] has resulted in the deaths of nearly 300 civilians at the hands of the police. Earlier this month, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture visited the nation and concluded that the use of "torture and ill-treatment is systematically practiced by the police" [UN press release; JURIST report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Torture, absence of the rule of law, violence against women and political persecution are among the laundry list of "egregious" human rights violations occurring in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [official website], according to a new report from the United Nations. Vitit Muntarbhorn was appointed to the position of Special Rapporteur [UN press release] last year and tapped with investigating allegations of human rights violations in the nation. The 22-page report [PDF text] to the UN General Assembly outlines human rights violation accusations received from citizens, and Muntarbhorn has not been invited by the North Korean government to conduct an in-country visit. Among the critical challenges to be addressed in North Korea, Muntarbhorn lists the following:

the right to food and the right to life; the right to security of the person, humane treatment, non-discrimination and access to justice; the right to freedom of movement, asylum, and protection of persons linked with displacement; the right to the highest attainable standard of health and the right to education; the right to self-determination/political participation, access to information, freedom of expression/belief/opinion, association and religion; and the rights of specific persons/groups, including women and children.

[JURIST] US Army Sgt. Joshua R. Claus is expected to plead guilty to charges that he abused detainees in Afghanistan, at his military trial Wednesday. Last month, Claus, a military intelligence interrogator, was charged [JURIST report] with dereliction of duty and assault of two Afghan detainees in his custody at the Bagram Control Point [Global Security profile] in Afghanistan in 2002. The government alleges that Claus forced an unnamed detainee to roll across the floor and kiss another soldier's boots, forced water down the throat of another detainee, known as Dilawar [Wikipedia profile], and also tightly twisted a hood over the man's head. Dilawar later died from injuries he sustained at the hands of interrogators. Last week, military officials charged two more soldiers [JURIST report] in the ongoing investigation into abuse at the Afghan facility [Wikipedia backgrounder]. To date, 14 soldiers have been charged in the investigation, one has been convicted, and two acquitted. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Army Capt. Ian Fishback [NY Times report], who served as an anonymous source for a recent Human Rights Watch report on the alleged abuse of Iraqi detainees, said Tuesday that Army investigators tried to track down young soldiers reporting misconduct rather than following up accusations of abuse. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] issued a report [text] last week that members of the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division [official website] systematically tortured Iraqi prisoners in 2003 and 2004 at a military base near Fallujah [JURIST report]. Fishback said investigators from the Criminal Investigation Command and the 18th Airborne Corps inspector general had pressured him to reveal those who had reported the abuse that was revealed in the report. The abuse included beatings, exposure to extreme temperatures, sleep deprivation and stacking prisoners in human pyramids. Fishback had no luck getting higher-ranking officers to act on his complaints and so he brought his concerns [LA Times report] to aides of Rep. John W. Warner (R-VA) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), which according to Fishback, prompted the Army to start investigating the allegations. Fishback accuses his commanders of believing that they did not have to follow Geneva Conventions [ICRC backgrounder] with prisoners in Iraq. After the HRW report was released, Fishback was summoned for six hours of questioning by investigators. The allegations add to the already large number of allegations of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive]. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Advocacy group Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) [advocacy website], Wednesday released a report of human rights abuses [PDF text; PDF press release; video press release] revealing a high prevalence of torture and starvation in Turkey's psychiatric institutions. The results of MDRI's two-year investigation could further hinder Turkey's attempts to join the European Union [official website]. The report shows findings of routine abuse of electroconvulsive therapy said to breach European regulations and urges the EU to investigate further. The report surfaced prior to the planned formal EU accession process scheduled to begin Monday. Austria, France and Cyprus have expressed reservations about Turkey joining the EU while the UK is a strong supporter of Turkey's entry. Earlier this year, Turkey vowed to make progress on human rights reforms [JURIST report] in pursuit of EU membership. The EU has background on the enlargement process. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The Judicial Conference of the United States [official website], the policy making body for federal judges, and the American Bar Association (ABA) [group website] have sent a letter [PDF text] to US Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) opposing proposed legislation that would limit death penalty appeals. The proposed Streamlined Procedures Act [text], is designed to stop ongoing delays between convictions and executions in capital cases and is based on the premise that the restrictions on appeals passed by Congress in 1996 have proven to be inadequate. An earlier letter [PDF text] from the ABA to the Judiciary Committee highlighted concerns that the proposal could prevent federal courts from considering claims if a state court has found no constitutional error. The letter asserted that the effect of the bill would effectively demolish federal court review of habeas corpus [LectLaw definition] protections and demanded a hearing before the bill was passed. A hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Thursday. Wednesday's Los Angeles Times has more.

[JURIST] Texas Judge William L. Abbott ruled Tuesday that former anti-Castro CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles [Wikipedia profile] will not be deported to either Cuba or Venezuela where local officials want to prosecute him for alleged terrorist acts. US attorneys agreed that Posada should not be deported to Cuba, where he is accused of making numerous attempts to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro [Wikipedia profile]. Abbott relied on the Convention against Torture [text] in reaching his decision not to deport Posada to Venezuela. Venezuelan officials have requested that Posada be sent to Venezuela in order to face charges for his alleged role in a 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. Posada escaped from a Venezuelan prison while awaiting trial, but his attorneys told the US immigration judge that Posada would likely be tortured if he were returned to Venezuela. Posada will remain in the custody of Immigration and Customs officials for up to 90 days and the Department of Homeland Security has not ruled out the possibility of deporting Posada to a third country that will agree not to turn him over to Cuba or Venezuela. Wednesday's Sun Sentinel has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Deportation hearing starts for former CIA operative
• US judge refuses bail for former CIA anti-Castro operative
• Venezuela officially asks for extradition of Cuban anti-Castro militant
• Venezuela may take US to international court over Cuban exile
• Venezuela gives US evidence on Cuban exile
• US refuses Venezuelan request to extradite Cuban bombing suspect
• Cuban anti-Castro militant charged for entering US illegally
• Cuban bombing suspect arrested in Miami

[JURIST] Scotland Yard [official website] announced Tuesday that anti-terrorist officers have arrested a suspect in connection with the failed July 21 London bomb attacks [JURIST report], which occurred just two weeks after the fatal July 7 London bombings [JURIST news archive]. Four other bombing suspects are in custody and ten other people have been charged with withholding information on other suspected July 21 bombers. One of the suspects, Ethiopian-born Hamdi Issac [Wikipedia profile], also known as Hussain Osman, appeared in court Friday after being apprehended and extradited from Italy where he fled after the attack. Charges against Issac [JURIST report] include conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and the possession of explosives. Issac was arrested under a European Union arrest warrant [EU backgrounder], a new device designed to speed the return of suspects to countries where they are wanted. AP has more.