[JURIST] Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) [JURIST news archive] has posted disparaging material about Texas DA Ronnie Earle [official website] and his case against DeLay on his congressional campaign website. The website, funded by DeLay’s re-election committee and not associated officially with the House, currently accuses Earle of political maneuvering and abuse of his office. Although legal experts say that such a use of the website is not illegal, they agree it raises significant questions about tainting the potential jury pool for DeLay's case. Larry Noble [profile], former chief of the Federal Election Commission [official website], claims DeLay “clearly is aiming at the jury pool.” DeLay has been indicted on charges of money laundering [JURIST report] and criminal conspiracy [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] A draft of new Australian terror laws [PDF] leaked to the Web by Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Jon Stanhope [official website] includes severe provisions, including a jail sentence of up to 7 years for promoting “ill will” or “hostility” among different social and political groups. Stanhope posted the draft laws on his website, saying that the Australian public had a right to know what they meant for their civil liberties, and kept them on Saturday in defiance of a removal directive from federal Attorney General Philip Ruddock. Stanhope and other Australian state leaders agreed to a federally-proposed package of tighter anti-terror laws [JURIST report] last month, but Stanhope said that the fully-articulated version he saw was "unpalatable", and another state leader, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, said the draft lacks key provisions that were agreed upon. Spokesmen for the government of Prime Minister John Howard said the circulated draft which ended up online was not intended to be definitive, and was presented as a basis for further discussion. Backbench members of Howard's own Liberal party have expressed concern over the new legislation, and legal and rights groups, including the Law Council of Australia [profession website], have expressed repeated opposition to the "draconian" nature of the proposals. The Australian Parliament is scheduled to vote on the legislation in two weeks. ABC Australia News has more; The Australian provides additional coverage.

[JURIST] An official of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission [official website] said late Saturday that turnout in the country's referendum on the draft Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive] was "no less than 61%", and that more than 66% of voters cast ballots in 7 of Iraq's 18 provinces, including three Sunni-dominated provinces deemed critical to the outcome of the poll. From Baghdad, the Iraq the Model weblog reports general turnouts by province as reported by election officials in the latest press conference. The Sunni turnout was much larger than in parliamentary elections in January which many Sunnis boycotted. A large number of Sunnis hope they can defeat the charter, which according to referendum rules will fail if two-thirds of the voters in three provinces reject it. The referendum ballots are now being brought to Baghdad where some are already being counted [ITM weblog post] by a team of about 250 election workers, with results expected in a few days. Meanwhile, election officials also reported Saturday that ten referendum workers had been kidnapped [Aljazeera report] in Sunni-dominated Anbar province, where turnout was relatively low and 60 voting stations of a total of 207 failed to open due to security concerns. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former president of Ecuador Lucio Gutierrez [Wikipedia profile] was arrested Friday evening upon his return to the Pacific coast city of Manta. Gutierrez, 48, was arrested on an order that he posed a threat to national security; he was taken to a prison in the capital, Quito. Gutierrez calmly complied with Ecuador police who boarded his plane after landing, but said that his arrest was “totally illegal, totally unconstitutional.” Last April, Gutierrez disbanded the Supreme Court of Ecuador [JURIST report] and declared a state of emergency, prompting Ecuador Congress's to remove him from office [JURIST report] just five days later. The ousted president, who fled to Brazil on April 24 [JURIST report], sought refuge in Peru and Colombia, where he was granted political asylum on October 4. Gutierrez has accused his successor, former vice-president Alfredo Palacio [Wikipedia profile], of illegally assuming power and fabricating charges against him. Gutierrez was the third Ecuadorian president to be ousted since 1997. AP has more.

[JURIST] A top UN expert has accused coalition forces in Iraq of purposefully denying food and water to civilians as a means of driving out insurgent strongholds. Jean Ziegler [official profile], UN special rapporteur on food rights, told reporters Friday that US and British soldiers have turned away aid convoys from occupied cities, including Fallujah, depriving Iraqi citizens of food, water and other basic supplies. Ziegler called the actions a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions on warfare [Laws and Customs of War on Land, Article 58] and insisted that "[the] coalition's occupying forces are using hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon of war against the civilian population[.]". US Military spokesperson Lt. Col, Steve Boylan denied Ziegler's allegations, and defended the denial of aid convoys into areas of heavy fighting during the first two weeks of the war, citing high security risks. Boylan insists that the military is working to ensure the health and welfare of all civilians. Ziegler is expected to issue a report on the matter to the UN General Assembly [official website] later this month. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas [official profile, PDF] issued a temporary stay late Friday blocking a lower federal court order allowing prison officials in Missouri to transport a pregnant inmate to a medical facility for an abortion. A Missouri law [text] prohibits the use of public funds "for the purpose of performing or assisting an abortion not necessary to save the life of the mother." The prisoner, represented by attorneys from the ACLU [advocacy website], has secured funds to pay for the procedure, but does not have money to pay for transport from the prison to the medical facitlity, an additional $350. The stay will remain in effect until the high court issues an opinion, but attorneys for the inmate argue that time is running out, Missouri law bars abortions after 22 weeks unless there is a threat to the mother's life, and the inmate is 17 weeks pregnant. AP has more.

[JURIST] White House Deputy Chief of Staff and top advisor Karl Rove [Washington Post backgrounder] testified for a fourth and final time Friday before a grand jury investigating the leak of the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame [Wikipedia profile] to the media in 2003. Rove emerged from the courthouse without comment, but sources close to the investigation indicate that he is not the target of the investigation and will likely avoid an indictment, although Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald [Washington Post profile] has not commented on whether he will file charges against Rove. Time Magazine reporter Matt Cooper reportedly told the grand jury in July that Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [official profile] served as his confidential sources for a story that revealed Plame's identity. AP has more.

[JURIST] Polls closed in Iraq at 5PM local time (10 AM ET) Saturday after a day of voting in the country's constitutional referendum [IECI factsheet, PDF] marked by relatively little violence and a higher Sunni turnout than was seen in January's parliamentary elections. Insurgents attacked several of the more than 6100 heavily-guarded polling stations causing some casualities, but nowhere near the 40+ death toll during the January vote. Rather than stay at home this time, many Sunnis turned out to cast their ballots, most likely against the US-supported draft [JURIST news archive], which establishes a federal state which many Sunnis oppose, saying that will lead to separate Kurdish and Shiite states in the north and south. But Kurds and Shiites also turned out in large numbers, encouraged by their political and clerical leaders. Few voters went to the polls in the violence-wracked Sunni province of Anbar, however. The constitution will be approved if a majority of Iraqi voters favor it, as long as two-thirds of voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces do not reject it. A full count is not expected for several days. Reuters has more. From Baghdad, the author of the Iraq the Model weblog has updates, pictures, and reflections on his own trip to the polls.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: The Iraqi Constitution: What Would Approval Really Mean? | Video: Remaking Iraq: Federalism and Rights

[JURIST] The White House announced Friday that it will bring in former Texas Supreme Court [official website] justices to highlight the qualifications of Texas native and US Supreme Court associate justice nominee Harriet Miers [JURIST news archive; Washington Post profile]. President Bush will host an event Monday with former Texas Chief Justices John Hill and Thomas Phillips, who co-authored a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] last week with former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Joe Greenhill in support of the Miers nomination. The event will coincide with ongoing efforts by the Bush administration to reassure skeptical Republicans [JURIST report] about Miers' conservative credentials, and quiet criticism from conservative publicatons and organizations, including the National Review [op-ed] and National Pro-Life Action Center, that contend Miers is an "ill-advised" choice. Bush announced Miers' nomination October 3 [JURIST report] to replace retiring associate justice Sandra Day O'Connor. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: In Praise of Treachery: The Relevance of Prior Judicial Experience | Video: Miers nomination