[JURIST] Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) [official website; JURIST news archive] announced in a letter [AP text] to rank-and-file Republican Representatives Saturday that he was formally stepping down as House Majority Leader [official website]. DeLay was forced to temporaily step aside last fall after he was indicted [JURIST report] on campaign finance charges in Texas, his home state. He had hoped to resume his duties after clearing his name, but the Texas proceeding has taken longer than anticipated and DeLay had recently come under pressure from other Republicans concerned about their own campaigns in the wake lobbyist Jack Abramoff's guilty pleas to conspiracy and fraud charges [JURIST report] last week. The White House issued a statement Saturday supporting DeLay’s decision. House Republicans will likely elect a new Majority Leader the week of January 30, when lawmakers return to the Capitol. In a separate letter [AP text] to Speaker Dennis Hastert [official website], DeLay maintained that he will seek re-election to his House seat in November. AP has more.

[JURIST] Several French human rights groups led by the French League for Human Rights [advocacy website] declared a proposed French immigration bill [JURIST report] racist and a "blatant violation of immigrants' rights" in a joint statement issued Saturday. The proposed legislation calls for placing new restrictions on foreign workers, students, and those who want to join their families in France by requiring immigrants to master the French language and foreign workers to prove that they have fixed salaries. Introduced by Interior Minster Nicolas Sarkozy [BBC profile], the bill has prompted critics to compare the minister to notorious right-wing leader Jean Marie Le Pen. The draft comes in the wake of dissent over a new anti-terrorism law that makes it possible to install cameras on public transport systems and in places of worship, and legislation requiring French schools to recognize the positive aspects of past French colonial history [JURIST report] in North Africa. Islam Online has more.

[JURIST] Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori [personal website; JURIST news archive], who fled to Japan after a corruption scandal in 2000, registered through intermediaries to run for president of Peru again Friday, shortly after a Chilean judge detained him indefinitely [JURIST report] pending consideration of an extradition request from Peru. Fujimori returned to South America in November, but was immediately arrested in Chile [JURIST report] at the request of the Peruvian government. If extradited to Peru, Fujimori will face 12 charges [JURIST report], including authorizing an illegal death squad, abuse of power, and corruption. Fujimori has vowed to take back the presidency, despite having been judicially barred from public office until 2010 [JURIST report], and hopes that popular support will pressure lawmakers to abandon his restriction. Peru’s electoral board only bars sentenced criminals from running for president, but it is widely believed that Fujimori’s presidential registration will be rejected by the electoral board next week. Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Ex-Peru president Fujimori denied bail in Chile while extradition request considered
• Peru asks Chile to extradite Fujimori on rights, corruption charges
• Peru approves charges against Fujimori ahead of extradition bid
• Chile high court affirms Fujimori detention pending extradition
• Ex-Peruvian president Fujimori loses challenge to Chile detention
• Former Peru president Fujimori to stay in Chile jail pending extradition
• Former Peru president arrested in Chile

[JURIST] Wisconsin [JURIST news archive] Governor Jim Doyle [official website] vetoed a bill [PDF text] Friday that would have made doctors inform women seeking abortions after the fifth month of pregnancy that their fetuses may feel pain. The bill passed [Boston Globe report] the Republican controlled Assembly by a count of 61-34 in early November and the Senate by a count of 21-12 in late September. In a veto statement [text] Doyle said:

This bill intrudes on the doctor patient relationship in a heavy handed manner and means doctors don’t have to provide objective and accurate information to their patients. In any case, I trust doctors, not the Legislature, to make medical judgments. We should keep the doctor-patient relationship between doctors and patients and keep the Legislature out of it.

[JURIST] The Congressional Research Service [welcome page, archives], the non-partisan public policy research arm of the US Congress, reported [text, PDF] Friday that although the legality of the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST archive] could not be determined due to the need for classified materials, the legal justification [JURIST document] for the program "does not seem to be as well-grounded" as the Bush administration has asserted. The report also concluded that a court would likely find that Congress did not intend to legislatively authorize the surveillance operations under its 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. White House spokesmen maintain that the program was legally conducted, necessary to the war on terror, and protective of civil liberties. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The number of hunger strike participants at the Guantanamo [JURIST news archive] detention facility has decreased from 84 to 40 since a late-December spike [JURIST report] US military authorities announced [statement, PDF] Friday. Thirty-two of the remaining 40 hunger strikers are currently being force-fed through tubes, a procedure declared humane [American Forces Press report] by medical officials at the facility but disputed by lawyers for the detainees. Meanwhile international criticism of Guantanamo persists, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel [BBC profile] stating in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine published Saturday that Washington should close the prison and find alternative methods for dealing with the current inmates. Merkel's statements reflect strong German skepticism [DS report] about the US "war on terror" which she has vowed to express next week during her first visit to the US since becoming chancellor. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Seven present or former members of the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals will testify on behalf of colleague and now US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito [official profile; JURIST news archive] at his confirmation hearings beginning Monday according to an announcement Friday by Republicans leading the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website]. Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) said the committee would hear from Edward Becker [official profile], Chief Judge Anthony Scirica [official profile], Maryanne Trump Barry [official profile], Ruggero Aldisert [official profile], and Leonard Garth [official profile], and also from two retired members of the court, John Gibbons [firm profile] and Timothy Lewis [firm profile]. Judicial testimony at a confirmation hearing is rare but, according to Specter, has been presented in the past. Democrats Thursday released a list of their own witnesses, including a constitutional law expert, a veteran civil rights lawyer and Kate Michelman, a former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion-rights group. They will also question John Flynn, a representative in a 2002 case involving mutual fund companyVanguard [official website]. Judge Alito partially handled the case, although he vowed to recuse himself from cases involving the company during this 1990 confirmation hearings for his Third Circuit seat because it manages his investments. Alito voluntarily removed himself from the case after his potential conflict of interest was raised, but claimed he was neither ethically or legally required to do so. Reuters has more.