[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] Friday scheduled new oral arguments in a whistleblower free speech case where the Court initially deadlocked 4-4. In Garcetti v. Ceballos [Duke Law backgrounder], a Los Angeles county prosecutor claimed he was demoted for testifying that a deputy sheriff lied in a search warrant affidavit. During the first round of oral arguments [JURIST report] in October, the Bush administration argued that First Amendment protection should not be extended to cover speech made in the course of governmental employment on an issue of public concern. Historically, constitutional protection has only been afforded to speech made as a private citizen. The ABA has merit briefs filed in the proceeding.

It is unclear whether this is the only case first heard before the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the confirmation of Justice Samuel Alito that will be reargued. AP has more. The Supreme Court has posted its full Friday Order List [text].

[JURIST] AP is reporting that a federal jury has cleared Merck [corporate website] of responsibility in the death of a Florida man who had taken the popular painkiller Vioxx [JURIST news archive]. The painkiller was recalled in 2004 after clinical tests showed that patients who use the drug for more than 18 months faced an increased risk of stroke and heart attack [FDA public health advisory].

The verdict comes in the first federal lawsuit [JURIST report; complaint] over Vioxx to go to trial; the case was initially declared a mistrial [JURIST report] in December when jurors could not agree on a verdict. In conflicting rulings at the state level last year, a Texas jury in August awarded a $253.4 million verdict [JURIST report] to the plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit, but a few months later, a New Jersey jury found that Merck was not liable [JURIST report] and that the company properly warned consumers about the risks associated with the drug.

[JURIST] The Georgia House of Representatives [General Assembly website] approved a bill [text] Friday protecting physicians who assist the state in performing lethal injections. The bill, which overwhelmingly passed the House 157-1, would protect any doctor or medical professional assisting in an execution from having their state license challenged, suspended or revoked. The bill now moves on to the Senate. Lawyers for anti-death penalty activists sued to try to force the state to punish doctors monitoring executions, claiming that the doctors violate the American Medical Association’s code of ethics [text] and the Hippocratic Oath [text], and arguing that doctors sometimes participate actively in lethal injections by helping to locate the vein, rather than just observing the injection. Anti-death penalty activists began to make an issue out of the assistance of doctors in lethal injections after Georgia [JURIST news archive] began using lethal injections as an alternative to the electric chair in 2001.

The death penalty [JURIST news archive] made headlines recently after the American Bar Association recommended a moratorium in its Georgia Death Penalty Assessment Report [DOC text]. Georgia has thusfar declined to follow the recommendation [JURIST report]. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has more.

[JURIST] Merrill Lynch [corporate website] said Friday it will pay $164 million to settle 23 class action lawsuits involving Merrill Lynch's research of internet companies in the 1990s. Merrill Lynch filed a report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] on Friday, informing them of the settlement plan and stating that the courts must still approve it. As a result of the settlement, plaintiffs in 11 of the 23 cases dropped appeals from previous cases where motions to dismiss were granted. Merrill Lynch will amend its fourth-quarter results to include the cost of the settlement, thereby reducing fourth-quarter earnings by 10 cents per share and full-year 2005 earnings by 11 cents per share.

Two lawsuits were originally dismissed [internet.com report] in 2003 because the court did not want to condone speculative investors who hoped to re-coup their losses from the volatile dot-com era. The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the lawsuits [JURIST report] in 2005 and Merrill Lynch still plans to defend those suits “vigorously.” CBC News has more.

[JURIST] US District Court Judge Marcia Cooke on Thursday upheld a previous district court ruling denying bail for alleged "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive], agreeing with federal prosecutors who say his history of skipping bail makes him a flight risk, and that he would pose a significant threat to the community if released. Padilla, whose trial is scheduled to begin in September, has family overseas and has visited them using fake aliases in the past.

Padilla was originally arrested in 2002 at the Chicago O'Hare airport on suspicion of planning to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the US, and was detained for 3 1/2 years as an "enemy combatant" without being charged. In November 2005, he was charged [PDF indictment, JURIST report] with conspiracy to murder US nationals, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists. The charges relate to an alleged North American terror cell designed to send money and recruits to support overseas terror operations and are unrelated to the "dirty bomb" allegations. Padilla had challenged his indefinite detention as an enemy combatant; his detention was affirmed by the Fourth Circuit [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] last September. That decision has been appealed to the US Supreme Court, but the Court has yet to decide whether to grant certiorari in the case. Reports have surfaced that evidence supporting the "dirty bomb" allegations was coerced through torture [JURIST report] leading the DOJ to charge Padilla on the separate charges. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Nepal [government website; JURIST news archive] on Friday ordered the government to free 37 politicians who had been detained for opposing the direct rule of King Gyanendra [official profile; BBC profile], saying that the court did not find any legitimate reason for the detentions. The government arrested [JURIST report] hundreds of politicians and activists in the past few weeks in an effort to crack down on protests of King Gyanendra's rule, but the government released many of them following a series of lawsuits filed by rights groups demanding that the government produce charges against them.

February 1 marked the one-year anniversary of Gyanendra's dismissal of the democratic government [JURIST report] and assumption of control of the Nepalese government. Police arrested over 500 protestors [JURIST report] who gathered to rally against Gyanendra's autocratic rule on the anniversary, and protesters have continued to call for the overthrow of the king [JURIST report]. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] The Rwandan Supreme Court on Friday rejected the appeal [JURIST report] of former Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu [BBC profile], who had asked the court to overturn his 15-year criminal sentence [JURIST report] for inciting violence, embezzlement, and associating with criminals. Bizimungu, the country's first president after the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder], had argued that his arrest and conviction had been politically motivated and that he should not have been convicted on charges different from those on which he was arrested.

The supreme court also upheld the sentence of one of Bizimungu's co-defendants, former Transport Minister Charles Ntakirutinka, but overturned the convictions of six other co-defendants. Human rights groups, including US-based Human Rights Watch, had called for the court to overturn Bizimungu's conviction [HRW backgrounder; press release], saying that the trial court had committed "egregious errors" and that evidence presented at trial had been weak and contradictory. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus [BBC profile] has vetoed a bill that would provide same-sex partners with access to medical information, property inheritance, and the right to raise children equal to that of married couples, among other things. Klaus' veto was expected [Prague Post report], and the president said Thursday that the veto was an outgrowth of his view of government's role, saying that the bill extends "state interventions into people's lives." Klaus also emphasized that he respects the "importance of the removal of discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation."

The bill, passed by both houses [Radio Prague report] in January, will now return to the Chamber of Deputies where votes from 101 of the house's 200 members could override the veto. Klaus has promised to provide lower house chairman Lubomir Zaoralek [official website in Czech] with a detailed explanation of his reasoning, which will then be released to the media, in hopes that the MPs will consider his arguments. According to a poll taken last October, 30 percent of Czech citizens oppose registered partnerships and 62 percent support them. The Prague Daily Monitor has more.

[JURIST] US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile] Thursday reaffirmed the US commitment to ending what she called the "genocide" in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, telling [testimony, PDF] members of the House International Relations Committee [official website] that "the United States is appalled by the ongoing atrocities that have persisted" there. Senior US officials first described the Darfur situation as genocide in 2004, when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell used the term [JURIST report] in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Rice urged members of Congress to support additional funding for transition to a UN peacekeeping mission to bring peace to the war-torn area. Sudan [government website; JURIST news archive] initially refused to allow any UN peacekeeping forces in the country, but began to consider allowing them in last week [JURIST report]. The approximately 7,000 AU troops and monitors presently trying to keep the peace in Darfur have struggled thus far, and the AU has used most of its international funding for the peacekeeping force. The UN Security Council [official website] has authorized UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [official profile] to begin drawing up contingency plans for a UN Darfur peacekeeping operations, and Annan said Thursday that he expects the Security Council to authorize the UN peacekeepers to take over for the AU force. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's environmental law news, the US Environmental Protection Agency [official website] has begun efforts to secure a multilateral agreement to reduce air pollution in the central US. The Blue Skyways Collaborative was introduced at a meeting of representatives from the EPA, 8 states, corporate interests, agriculture associations, environmental groups, Canada and Mexico. Blue Skyways, which roughly focuses on the US interstate highway 35 corridor, aims to reduce emissions from sources not regulated by the Clean Air Act [text], including emissions from trucks, construction equipment, farm machinery, school buses, railyards and airports. While Blue Skyways itself is voluntary, state legislation implementing ideas created through the effort is expected. AP has more.

In other environmental law news

• The California Water Resources Board [official website] ordered federal and state agencies Wednesday to meet water quality requirements when drawing water from the central valley region. High salt levels [backgrounder] in the San Joaquin-Sacramento River delta first became an issue 25 years ago, although this marks the first time the Board has taken any action to control the problem. State and federal water projects decrease the water supply reaching the delta, resulting in increased salinity levels which hurt fish populations and farms in the region. The agencies could face fines or be ordered to shut down if they fail to meet the standards. AP has more.
  
  
• The California Public Utilities Commission [official website] announced [press release] Thursday it will develop a plan to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. While the proposal [DOC text] is vague in its details, it is expected that any final proposal would be similar to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative [website] (discussed below). Reuters has more.
  
  
• The Vermont House Natural Resources and Energy Committee approved legislation [text] Thursday that would implement the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) [official website], an agreement between 9 northeast states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The RGGI works through a cap and trade system, creating transferable credits that power plants can trade to achieve their emission reduction goals. Vermont is the first of the northeast states to work on RGGI legislation, perhaps because it only has one power plant that would be affected by the plan. Vermont Press Bureau has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge David G. Trager has granted the US Justice Department's request for dismissal [memorandum, PDF; JURIST report] of a civil rights lawsuit filed by Maher Arar [advocacy website, CBC timeline], in what is believed to be the first suit filed challenging US extraordinary rendition [CBS report; JURIST news archive] practices. The Syrian-born Canadian was detained in 2002 during a layover at New York's JFK airport on a flight home to Canada from Tunisia; he was detained by US immigration officials and then deported to Syria, where he was born. Arar alleged he was deported so that he could be tortured in Syria, where he eventually made false admissions of terrorist activity. Referring to information linking Arar to al Qaeda, the Justice Department said that deporting him was "in the best interest of the United States." Syria has denied the allegations of abuse.

Arar's lawyers argued that the Torture Victim Protection Act [text] provides the US court with jurisdiction over cases involving civil rights abuses committed abroad, but Judge Trager dismissed the case [opinion, PDF] citing "the national security and foreign policy considerations at stake" and held that Arar, as a non-citizen, could not raise a constitutional right to due process. The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights has a press release on the ruling and background on the case. AP has more.

[JURIST] A New York appeals court has ruled [opinion, PDF] that the state's marriage law, which allows marriage between a man and a woman but not between same-sex couples, is constitutional. The 5-0 decision covers three separate cases [NYCLU case backgrounder] filed on behalf of same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses. The couples argued that the Domestic Relations Law [text], which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, violates the equal protection, privacy, and due process clauses found in the New York constitution [text]. The appeals court disagreed, saying that the legislature, not the courts, was the appropriate forum to change the definition of marriage. The NYCLU has said it will appeal the decision [press release] to New York's Court of Appeals.

Last December, in a separate case, a New York appeals court overturned a lower court ruling [decision text] that would have allowed same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] in New York City. In that case, the appeals court wrote that the lower court judge's decision "was an act that exceeded the court's constitutional mandate and usurped that of the Legislature." 1010 WINS has local coverage.

[JURIST] United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan [official profile] has called for the United States to close its Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detention facility as soon as possible, reiterating the conclusions of a 54 page report [PDF text; press release] released Thursday by a UN-appointed independent panel. Annan said:

There is a lot in the report, and I cannot say that I necessarily agree with everything in the report. But the basic point, that one cannot detain individuals in perpetuity and that charges have to be brought against them and be given a chance to explain themselves, and be prosecuted, charged or released, I think is something that is common under any legal system. And I think sooner or later there will be a need to close Guantanamo. I think it will be up to the government to decide, and hopefully to do it as soon as is possible.

[JURIST] The Republican leaders of two key Congressional committees said Thursday that they would not undertake direct probes of the president's NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. The US House Intelligence Committee [official website] said it would conduct a review of federal surveillance laws but its members are already disagreeing about the scope of their inquiry. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) [official website], who has called for changes [JURIST report] to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text] so that proper congressional oversight may be given to the NSA program, has suggested that the committee's investigation will have "multiple avenues," but chairman Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) [official website], has indicated that the committee will not focus on the NSA operation.

The Senate Intelligence Committee [official website], meanwhile, has similarly decided not to investigate the eavesdropping program [NYT report] for now because, as committee chairman Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) [official website] explained, "such an investigation is currently unwarranted and would be detrimental to this highly classified program." Earlier Thursday, Roberts indicated that he had reached "an agreement in principle" with the White House [AP report] on a proposal that would provide "a fix" to FISA and allow increased congressional briefings on the NSA program, but said that details are still being worked out. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's international brief, four high profile Egyptian judges who spoke out against fellow colleagues accused of rigging votes in last year's presidential elections have been stripped of judicial immunity and are scheduled to be questioned by Egyptian police officials on charges of slander against government officials. The judges, including the deputy judge of the Court of Cassation - Egypt's highest appellate court - have been outspoken in their criticism [JURIST report] of their judicial counterparts who allegedly helped stuff ballot boxes with votes for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official profile]. The judges have also called on international observers to undertake an investigation of the judiciary if the matter is not dealt with internally. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Egypt [JURIST news archive]. AP has more.

In other international legal news ...

• The Ugandan Constitutional Court [official website] has dismissed a petition against Ugandan opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye [BBC profile] which sought to have his name removed from next week's presidential election, or at the least have him declared an invalid candidate [JURIST report] for the office of president. The five-judge panel ruled [text] that the Ugandan Electoral Commission [official website] was constitutionally free to ignore the advice of the attorney-general's office regarding the suitability of a nominee for the office of president. The court also held that the AG's assertion that Besigye needed to appear in person before the UEC to be properly nominated was not supported by the Constitution and, upon finding all issues for the respondent, ordered the petitioners to cover the costs of the litigation. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Uganda [JURIST news archive].
  
  
• The Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Badriddin Hassuon of Syria, the highest official of religious law in the Sunni Muslim country, met with officials from the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] Thursday and called upon Europe to adopt an international convention that would outlaw the intentional infliction of damage to a religion's convictions by imposing a criminal sentence on speech that was harmful or offensive to religious persons. Hassuon insisted that all of Europe should adopt such a convention and that only a legally binding instrument would serve to prevent another outcry similar to the current unrest surrounding the controversial caricatures of the Islamic prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive]. Hassuon also alleged that the media has been at fault for stirring up further anti-Muslim sentiment by only covering violent protests and ignoring those conducted peacefully. SANA has local coverage.
  
  
• Two high-placed lawyers in Kenya have had their passports officially revoked after being officially named as suspects in the Goldenberg corruption investigation [BBC backgrounder]. Police made the announcement identifying former Director of Public Prosecutions Philip Murgor and Member of Parliament Mutula Kilonzo as they revealed that arrests in response to an investigation into the nation's biggest government corruption scandal will begin on Monday. Murgor and Mutula have called the government response a "travesty" and have vowed to fight the cancellation in court. Earlier this week, police placed a travel ban on over 20 officials [JURIST report] as part of the ongoing investigation into government corruption. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Kenya [JURIST news archive]. Kenya's East African Standard has local coverage.

[JURIST] A UK High Court judge has ruled that three UK residents [JURIST report] detained by the US at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] since 2002 can seek a court order requiring the British government to petition the US government for their release. The UK government has thusfar said that it cannot represent non-British citizens at the camp, even if they lived in the UK. Amnesty International has said [AI report] that there are currently nine long-term British residents in Guantanamo; the High Court action was brought on behalf of Bishar al-Rawi [Wikipedia profile], Jamil al-Banna [Wikipedia profile] and Omar Deghaye [Wikipedia profile].

The judge at Thursday's hearing, Mr. Justice Collins, recognized the difficulties in the British government's position but said claims of torture at the camp meant the government might have an obligation to act, observing "America's idea of what is torture is not the same as ours and does not appear to coincide with that of most civilized nations." Collins acknowledged hearing of a new UN rights report [PDF] decrying the situation of detainees and recommending the closure of the facility [JURIST report] before making his comments in court. BBC News has more. The Guardian has local coverage.

[JURIST] As ongoing unrest stemming from the controversy over the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] continues, Pakistani police on Friday placed radical Islamic leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed under house arrest to prevent him from giving his usual Friday sermon at a mosque in Lahore. Saeed is the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba [backgrounder, Wikipedia profile] militia, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, and is the current leader of Jamaat-ul Dawat, an Islamic extremist group.

Police in eastern Pakistan also arrested 150 protestors Friday for violating a ban on rallies imposed earlier this week in response to deadly protests over the cartoons [JURIST report]. Protestors were arrested in Multan and pre-emptive arrests were also made in Lahore, Karachi and Faisalabad. AP has more. AFX has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Sheriff's officials in Los Angeles have said they intend to pursue criminal charges against at least two dozen inmates who participated in a series of racially motivated riots [JURIST report] in early February at the North County Correctional Facility [official website]. Two people have been killed in the violence and over 100 inmates have been injured in a series of clashes attributed to racial tension between gangs.

Inmates had been segregated in an effort to quell the violence and prison officials have begun reintegrating inmates, a process which is about 85 percent complete. Sheriff Lee Baca [official website] has also indicated that most high-risk offenders have been moved from dorms at the North County facility to single and double cells at the Men's Central Jail [official website] and other facilities. In a 2005 decision, the US Supreme Court [official website] held in Johnson v. California [opinion] that state prisons cannot temporarily segregate inmates by race [JURIST report], except in the most extraordinary circumstances. Civil rights activists have agreed that the current riots meet that standard and have not protested the segregation. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Los Angeles inmates moved to state system after race riots
• Fresh round of race riots breaks out in Los Angeles jail
• Second Los Angeles prison riot blamed on racial tensions
• Los Angeles prison riot attributed to racial tension

[JURIST Europe] A Belgian court has convicted three men for being members of an Islamic group connected to terror attacks in Casablanca in May 2003 and Madrid in March 2004. The men were on trial [JURIST report] for their alleged membership in a Belgian cell of the militant Moroccan Islamist Combatant Group (GICM) [CDI profile]. The case was the first brought under Belgium's tough new anti-terror laws which criminalize the association of individuals with terrorist groups and acts.

Sentences for belonging to a terrorist group can reach five years, while a conviction for coordinating a terrorist attack carries up to ten years incarceration. Two of the accused were sentenced to seven years while the third defendant received six years. All three are Belgian nationals of Moroccan descent. BBC News has more.

Angela Onikepe is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.

[JURIST Europe] The UN High Commission on Refugees [official website] has expressed alarm [UNHCR press release] at Ukraine's deportation of 10 Uzbek asylum-seekers to Uzbekistan [JURIST news archive] where they may face torture and abuse, alleging the deportations violated international law. An eleventh detainee was kept in Ukraine because he has relatives there. Nine of the eleven men had registered with UNHCR office in Kiev as asylum seekers. The remaining two had reportedly planned to do the same but were unable to do so.

The UNHCR says the men were not allowed to appeal the deportation or complete full and fair asylum procedures before being deported. The 11 asylum seekers had been arrested on February 7 in two different Crimean towns and detained in the Crimean city of Simferopol. Uzbekistan had submitted an extradition request to Ukraine for the men based on their alleged involvement in the May 13 protests in Andijan [JURIST news archive] that led to the killing of hundreds of civilians by Uzbek security forces. Ukraine is a party to several agreements that proscribe refoulement [CWP backgrounder], the return of people who could face torture or abuse, including the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the UN Convention Against Torture [official PDF texts]. Reuters has more.

Angela Onikepe is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.

[JURIST Europe] French Justice Minister Pascal Clement [official profile] has responded to a new Council of Europe (COE) [official website] report released on Wednesday [COE press release] criticizing France's human rights record by calling it "unfair". The 100 page report [official DOC text] identified a range of shortcomings in the French justice system relating to the treatment of newly arrived foreigners, domestic violence, police brutality, detention conditions, and asylum and expulsion procedures. Clement expressed his dissatisfaction [press release, in French] with several points made in the report, especially with regards to prison conditions, citing a 2002 initiative to combat overpopulation in French prisons and create an additional 13,000 prison spaces [dossier, in French].

The COE report was the result of a two-week official visit to France in September 2005 by Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles [official profile], who personally visited various sites in France, including police stations, a psychiatric hospital, reception centers for foreigners, and centers for victims of domestic violence. Expatica has more.

Angela Onikepe is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.