[JURIST] The New York State Court of Appeals [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] 5-2 Tuesday that an illegal immigrant's status as an undocumented worker does not preclude his ability to recover lost earnings. Illegal immigrant Gorgonio Balbuena was injured at his workplace in 2000, and he sued his employer for lost wages. The trial court held in Balbuena's favor, a decision that was altered on appeal before coming before New York's highest court.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer [official profile; JURIST news archive] had officially supported Balbuena's position [AG opinion text], citing concerns that preventing such claims would make illegal aliens more attractive to employers, thus encouraging non-compliance with federal policy and state labor laws. The opinion reasoned that as there was no proof that Balbuena forged documents to gain the job, and that the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act [text] of 1986 "does not make it a crime to work without documentation." A dissenting judge wrote that he "would hold that such a recovery is barred by the rule of New York law that the courts will not aid in achieving the purpose of an illegal transaction." AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has said that the state of California has decided to postpone indefinitely the execution of condemned killer Michael Morales [NCADP profile], initially delayed late Monday after two anesthesiologists refused to take part [JURIST report]. Morales' death warrant had to be exercised by 11:59 PM Tuesday or state officials would have been required to obtain a new execution order from the trial judge, which might not have been forthcoming under the circumstances.

Morales, convicted in 1983 of murdering a 17 year old girl, had argued that the chemical cocktail to be used in his lethal injection violates the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment found in the Eighth Amendment [text]. US District Judge Jeremy Fogel [official profile] last week ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that California must change the drugs it uses when executing prisoners, and the Ninth Circuit on Sunday approved the presence of a doctor [ruling, PDF; JURIST report] to ensure that Morales would be unconscious during the execution.

[JURIST] In Tuesday's environmental news, the US Supreme Court [official website] heard oral arguments in three cases that challenge the limits of the Clean Water Act (CWA) [text]. The court heard consolidated arguments in Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. US Army Corps of Engineers [Duke Law backgrounder; merit briefs], challenges to the federal government's legal authority to regulate private land that does not have a substantial connection to navigable waters. Petitioners argued that regulations promulgated by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency exceed the scope of the CWA. Under the CWA, landowners must obtain a permit before depositing "dredged or fill material" into the "navigable waters of the United States." The CWA defines "navigable waters" as "waters of the United States," and the agencies have defined "waters" to include wetlands adjacent to navigable waters or tributaries. The Carabells and Rapanos argue that their properties may contain wetlands, but they are not adjacent to navigable waters and should be beyond the scope of the CWA. Indeed, the Rapanos property is some 10 miles from the nearest navigable water. Justice David Souter expressed concern that limiting the scope of the CWA could allow polluters an "end-run around the regulation," but Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia seemed skeptical of allowing the EPA to rely on an overbroad interpretation of "waters" and "tributaries." AP has more.

The Court also heard arguments in S.D. Warren v. Maine [Duke Law backgrounder; merit briefs, a case which involves the regulation of dams. The question in this case is whether water released from a dam should be considered a discharge. If it is, then federally licensed dams would have to comply with state water quality rules in order to receive their license. The plaintiff argues that it is not discharging anything into the water, and that the release of water from the dam should not constitute a discharge under the CWA.

[JURIST] US District Judge James Spencer Tuesday denied a US Department of Justice [official website] request to hold additional hearings [JURIST report] on the impact an impending shutdown of the BlackBerry [product website] wireless email network could have on government agency operations. A lawyer for plaintiff company NTP Inc. said that the order indicates that the judge seeks to end the case quickly. A remand hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday, where arguments will be presented on whether to grant NTP's request for the shutdown.

Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court declined to review [JURIST report] a ruling [PDF text] by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upholding the trial court's 2003 finding [PDF text] that RIM violated NTP's patent. Analysts have predicted that a US settlement between RIM and NTP could total $1 billion. CNET has more.

[JURIST] A lawyer representing Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] said Tuesday he would seek to compel the testimony of US Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) [official website], recently subpoenaed [CNN report] by the defense as a witness to the extent of the government's knowledge of the identities of 9/11 hijackers before the terrorist attacks. Weldon last week requested that the subpoena be quashed [PDF motion text; supporting memorandum], citing his congressional immunity.

Moussaoui pleaded guilty [JURIST report] last year to conspiracy charges [indictment] related to the 9/11 attacks, and is now entering his sentencing trial. He could face the death penalty if the government proves that if he had told officials about the attack, it might have been prevented. His lawyers believe testimony from Weldon could defeat this theory, as Weldon has alleged [press conference] that the government had identified many of the eventual 9/11 hijackers well in advance of the attacks, and still was unable to prevent their occurrence. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Oregon Supreme Court [official website] on Tuesday upheld [opinion text] a controversial property rights compensation law, reversing a circuit court decision and declaring the law constitutional. The law, known as Measure 37 [text; official backgrounder], requires the government to either provide compensation to landowners for reductions of property value caused by certain land use regulations or not to apply such regulations. The Supreme Court said state and federal constitutions don't require compensation to landowners, but that they also don't prohibit compensation.

Advocates of the law [Yes on 37 website] hailed the decision as a victory for property owners and developers. Opponents such as 1000 Friends of Oregon [advocacy website] say the measure is not fair and infringes on the rights of property owners. AP has more.

[JURIST] Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has said [press release] he will veto House Bill 1318 [text], a bill that would require voters to provide identification at the polls in order to vote. Noting that voter turnout in elections is currently dropping, he said the bill "places an unnecessary new burden on electors that will result in some losing their right...." Read the letter that Rendell intends to send the Legislature.

About half of US states require some form of voter ID, and six states, including Georgia, [JURIST report] request photo ID. AP has more.

[JURIST] The New York Court of Appeals [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn [diocesan website] could use the statute of limitations as a defense in two sexual abuse cases. In one case the plaintiff argued that he suffered abuse from 1963 to 1970 but it left him mentally incapable of bringing a suit before the statute of limitations expired. In the other case, 42 plaintiffs brought a suit against the thirteen individual priests, a monsignor, and both the bishop and the diocese.

In both cases, the court addressed only the legal question of whether equitable estoppel applied to the toll of the statute of limitations of the plaintiffs' claims. In her opinion Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick wrote, "conduct like this might be morally questionable in any defendant, let alone a religious institution, but it is not fraudulent concealment as a matter of law." The court found that because "no separate and subsequent acts of wrongdoing beyond the sexually abusive acts themselves are alleged..." equitable estoppel was inapplicable. 1010 WINS has local coverage. JURIST has more coverage of clergy sexual abuse [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] The Serbian government on Tuesday denied earlier reports that Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile] had been arrested [JURIST report] and would be turned over to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website]. Srdjan Djuric, the head of the government's Office of Media Relations, said that the reports were false [press release], calling the news a "manipulation that harms as well as hinders the Serbian government's efforts to bring the cooperation with the Hague tribunal to a close." Independent broadcaster B92, however, is continuing to report that Mladic has been arrested [B92 report] and is awaiting transfer to the ICTY, despite Djuric's denial.

Mladic, a former general, has been indicted [text] by the ICTY on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes stemming from the execution of over 7,000 Muslim prisoners and the shelling and sniping of innocent civilians during the siege of Sarajevo. Mladic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder] are considered to be the two top fugitives wanted by the war crimes court. ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte has repeatedly called on the European Union to make Serbia's possible membership in the union contingent on the country's cooperation with the ICTY in locating Mladic. Serb officials met with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn on Tuesday and part of the discussions focused on Serbian cooperation with the ICTY [press release]. Rehn is scheduled to deliver a report on Serbia's cooperation to the EU at the end of the month. Reuters has more.

7:02 PM ET - A spokeswoman for the ICTY prosecutor has also officially denied reports that Mladic has been arrested. Florence Hartmann said that del Ponte's office was not even aware that there was an ongoing operation to find Mladic and called reports that Mladic had been captured "media hype." AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in four cases Tuesday. In Cunningham v. California, the Court will consider whether California's determinate sentencing law is invalid because judges are able to impose increased sentences based on their own findings of fact rather than those of the jury. In Global Crossing v. Metrophones, the Court will consider whether the federal Communications Act [PDF text] allows a payphone service provider to sue a long-distance carrier to recover compensation for coinless phone calls. In Medimmune v. Genentech, the Court will rule on whether a patent license holder must first breach that agreement before suing to challenge the patent's validity. Finally, as reported previously in JURIST's Paper Chase, the Court agreed to hear Gonzales v . Carhart, an abortion case [JURIST report], where it will consider the constitutionality of the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act [PDF text]. Read the Court's full Order List [PDF]. AP has more.

Also Tuesday, the Court declined to rule on a petition by the US government in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [PDF certiorari petition] to dismiss a constitutional challenge [JURIST report] to the military tribunal process at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], deciding without explanation to wait until a scheduled hearing in March. The government is arguing that US courts no longer have the jurisdiction to hear cases which challenge military tribunals [JURIST news archive] under the Detainee Treatment Act [JURIST document] passed by Congress last year. AFP has more.

The Court also decided to take no action Tuesday on the appeal [JURIST report] by alleged "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive], a US citizen who is challenging his detention for 3.5 years as an "enemy combatant" without having been charged.

[JURIST] Three Ohio men have been indicted by a federal grand jury for planning terrorist attacks on US military overseas [press release], according to court documents unsealed Tuesday. The men were recruited by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi [BBC profile], who leads al Qaeda in Iraq, and were involved in recruiting other members starting in November 2004 to prepare for a "violent holy war" against the US and its allied countries. In an announcement Tuesday, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales called the criminal charges an important part of the fight against terrorism [prepared remarks]. Gonzales said:

We cannot wait until an attack happens. We will continue to use our criminal laws as Congress intended, to charge individuals once they conspire to provide support to terrorism or conspire to kill abroad. As alleged in the indictment, these defendants have been living in the United States where they have been engaging in weapons training, sympathizing with the terrorists, and seeking to provide help in order to kill people abroad, including our troops.

[JURIST] Reuters is reporting that top Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile] has been arrested, according to Serbian news sources. Mladic's arrest has not been officially confirmed.

The former general has been charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] with genocide for the execution of over 7,000 Muslim prisoners, and for the shelling and sniping of innocent civilians during the siege of Sarajevo. Reports surfaced in December that Mladic was discussing his surrender [JURIST report] with the war crimes court. ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte has repeatedly called on the EU to suspend membership talks [JURIST report] with Serbia unless Mladic was turned over to the court. Reuters has more.

12:43 PM ET - Official Serbian news agency Tanjug [media website] has quoted a local television report that Mladic has been taken into custody in Belgrade and will be transferred to the ICTY. According to other reports from Serbian newspaper Blic [media website], Mladic will be turned over to the ICTY within 10 days [Makfax report]. An ICTY spokesperson has said that the ICTY is aware that a Belgrade prosecutor has information on Mladic's whereabouts and that Mladic "could be transferred to Hague in short time." Also Tuesday, Democratic Party of Serbia Deputy President Vladeta Jankovic said that Mladic will "very shortly" face justice [B92 report], noting that Mladic's fugitive status has been a "huge obstacle" in Serbia's integration with Europe. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn is scheduled to report on Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY at the end of the month. Reuters has more.

1:13 PM ET - AP now reports that a top Serbian security official has said that Mladic has been located and that authorities are working to negotiate his surrender.

1:55 PM ET - A spokesperson for the Serbian government has denied reports that Mladic has been arrested. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Australian judicial inquiry [Cole Commission website] looking into allegations that leading Australian wheat exporter Australian Wheat Board (AWB) [corporate website] provided over $200 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's former regime [JURIST report] as part of the now-defunct UN oil-for-food program [JURIST news archive] has expanded its scope and will also try to learn what government officials knew about the alleged scam. Commission head Terence Cole [official profile] on Tuesday urged lawmakers and public servants to come forward with evidence in connection to the scandal.

Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] has insisted that the government had no knowledge of the alleged multimillion dollar scam that violated UN sanctions. An AWB executive, however, has testified [hearing transcripts] that Australian officials were aware of the company's payments to the Hussein regime as early as March, 2001. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UK High Court [UK Court Service website] on Tuesday rejected a bid by three UK bankers to halt their extradition to the US to face fraud charges in connection with the Enron [JURIST news archive] scandal. The British government ordered the extradition of David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew, former Natwest [corporate website] bank executives, after they were indicted [PDF text] in Texas on charges that they aided Enron in an off-the-books partnership deal.

The High Court held that the extradition was proper because the charges had a substantial connection to events and people in the US. The case is the first to be evaluated under the new Extradition Act [text], an agreement between the US and UK that uses a lower evidentiary burden in evaluating extradition requests. Bloomberg has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• UK court hears Enron extradition appeal
• Three UK bankers to be extradited to US for Enron scandal involvement
• UK bankers allowed to challenge extradition in Enron case
• UK Home Secretary given extension on Enron extradition decision
• UK bankers linked to Enron scandal may be extradited to US, judge rules

[JURIST] British historian David Irving [BBC profile, personal website] has said he will appeal the three-year sentence he received after pleading guilty [JURIST report] Monday to charges of denying the Holocaust [JURIST report]. Irving was charged in connection to two speeches he gave in Austria in 1989, in which he denied that Nazis used gas chambers at Auschwitz during the World War II Holocaust [BBC backgrounder]. Irving admitted to making the statements, but said that he has since changed his mind.

Irving and his lawyer say they will appeal the three year sentence, referring to the sentence as a battle of censorship and saying it is too stringent for comments that he made years ago. Austrian prosecutors also filed an appeal [Reuters report] Tuesday, asking the appeals court to lengthen Irving's sentence. Prosecutors say that Irving pretended to change his views in order to avoid a lengthy sentence. Austria is one of eleven countries which have laws against denying the existence of the Holocaust. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Minority voters in the United States still face unfair poll tactics and barriers that disenfranchise them, according to a major study [PDF; executive summary] released Tuesday by the National Commission on the Voting Rights Act [official website], a project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law [advocacy website]. The group intends to use the report to lobby Congress to renew the federal Voting Rights Act, set to expire in 2007. Among other findings, the report details purged voting lists, variable times and locations of polling places, and other unfair practices which have the effect of discouraging voting by minorities.

An early product of the civil rights movement, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 [US DOJ backgrounder] allowed federal authorities to oversee elections in states where there were historical racial tensions. Critics of the law, such as Ralph Conner of the conservative Heartland Institute [advocacy website], argue that the increase in minority elected officials and relatively constant voting patterns among minorities since the Act was renewed in 1982 show that it is no longer needed. Proponents counter that the Act must be renewed because its protections will prevent drops in minority voting and representation. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] issued two decisions Tuesday, including a ruling in Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal [Duke Law backgrounder], 04-1084, in which the Court held that a church congregation could use hallucinogenic tea as part of a religious ceremony to connect with God. In a unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts [JURIST news archive], the Court held that the federal government improperly seized the church's hoasca tea, which contains the illegal drug DMT. Roberts held that the government failed to show a compelling enough interest to allow the seizure under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act [text] or that an exemption for the church would result in harm. The church, which blends Brazilian and Christian beliefs, sought a preliminary injunction [JURIST report] against the seizure, which was granted and upheld [opinion text] by the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Read the Court's opinion [PDF text]. AP has more.

The Court also ruled in Buckeye Check Cashing Inc. v. Cardegna [Duke Law backgrounder], 04-1264, in which it held that a contract with an arbitration clause must go to arbitration even if the entire contract is disputed. The Court by a 7-1 margin ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) [text] and federal law should govern the issue rather than state law, as the Florida Supreme Court ruled [opinion text, PDF] in the case. Under the FAA, an arbitration clause may be severable from the rest of the contract, and a general challenge to the contract may be decided by an arbitrator. Read the Court's opinion [PDF text], per Justice Scalia, and Justice Thomas' dissent [PDF text].

[JURIST] Liberian and UN officials on Monday inaugurated a Truth and Reconciliation Commission [UN Mission in Liberia news release, PDF] to investigate human rights abuses during the country's war-torn rule from 1979-2003. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf [BBC profile] presided over the swearing-in of the nine commission members, and she called the commission an opportunity to "bring forth a unifying narrative." The commission, modeled after a similar one used by South Africa [SA Commission website] following years of apartheid rule, does not have authority to try any suspects. It has been charged with documenting abuses during previous governments of Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor [PBS profile] and making recommendations for restitution.

Liberia [JURIST news archive] was required to form the commission by the peace agreement reached in 2003, and it was later approved by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act in June 2005. It will be jointly funded by Liberia and the UN. Former President Charles Taylor has been indicted [text] by the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone [official website; JURIST news archive], but he remains in asylum [JURIST report] in Nigeria. AP has more.

[JURIST] An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan [JURIST news archive] on Tuesday sentenced to death eleven members of Jund Allah, an Islam group linked to al Qaeda [JURIST news archive], after they were convicted of killing ten people in an attack on a convoy [BBC report] escorting Pakistani Lieutenant General Ahsan Saleem Hayat in June 2004. Hayat escaped unharmed, but six soldiers and four others were killed, and an additional twelve were wounded in the attack. Jund Allah leader, Atta-ur Rehman rejected the court's decision, saying the court was fake and had no power. He pledged to appeal to a higher court within the next week.

The attack came in retaliation against a security force operation in a town near Islamabad, where hundreds have been killed over the past two years as a result of heated clashes between militants and the Pakistani army. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Jacques Bernard, head of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council [official website], has fled the country in fear of his life two weeks after heavily disputed elections [JURIST report] returned President Rene Preval [Wikipedia profile] to office. Preval opponents threatened Bernard's life and burned down and looted his farmhouse over the weekend. Bernard is reported to have left the country on Sunday, possibly traveling to Miami.

Bernard was appointed to Haiti's electoral council three months ago to bring order to the council. Many, however, became outraged after votes were counted in the February 7 election [JURIST report]. Preval received more than four times the number of votes of any of his opponents, and he was declared the winner [JURIST report] after the electoral council decided to divide 85,000 blank ballots among the candidates in proportion to the votes they had already received. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Haiti | Op-ed: Haiti's Election: Right Result, For the Wrong Reason

[JURIST] MSNBC is reporting that the US Supreme Court [official website] has agreed to consider a case concerning the constitutionality of the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act [PDF text].

The Bush administration in September appealed [JURIST report] to the Supreme Court a ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] from the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The appeals court ruling upheld a Nebraska district court decision [PDF text; JURIST report] that found the federal law unconstitutional because it lacks an exception for the health of the mother. The Second and Ninth Circuits have also found the law to be unconstitutional [JURIST report].

[JURIST] New York Gov. George Pataki and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich [official websites] have threatened to take legal steps to block an Arab company's takeover of operations in several major US ports. The governors cite security concerns associated with the acquisition that will leave Dubai Ports World [corporate website] in control of port operations in Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia, and say they may cancel lease arrangements with the company. Ehrlich said the states should have been notified by the Bush administration before it approved the deal. Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez said he would introduce legislation [news release] along with Sen. Hillary Clinton [official website] that would bar the sale of port operations to foreign governments.

Dubai Ports World, a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates, gained control of US ports operations after a takeover of the British company Peninsular & Oriental Steam. The takeover was approved by the Bush administration after the company agreed to certain security precautions, according to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff [official profile]. Opponents have argued that the United Arab Emirates was used as a financial and operational base for the Sept. 11 terror attacks and for nuclear smuggling involving Iran, Pakistan, Libya and North Korea. In January, President Bush appointed a Dubai Ports World executive [DP World news release], Dave Sanborn, to serve as Maritime Administrator [official website]. AP has more.

3:34 PM ET - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) [official website] said Tuesday that if the White House does not agree to delay the deal that would allow DP World to take over operation of the ports, he plans to introduce legislation [press release] that would "ensure that the deal is placed on hold until this decision gets a more thorough review." DP World is scheduled to take over operations on March 2. AP has more.

3:55 PM ET - President Bush told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he will veto any bill that would hold up the deal to allow DP World to take over operations of the six ports. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's international brief, Sudan has issued a formal protest to the UN Envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk over his lobbying for a UN peacekeeping force in the Darfur region [JURIST news archive], and has rejected the growing call for the African Union to hand over control of the current peacekeeping mission to a fully international force. Sudan's foreign ministry said it was still willing to accept peaceful support from the UN, but viewed the current push for non-African peacekeepers as a violation of its sovereignty. Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha told a US delegation that Sudan was opposed to any use of international forces [Sudan Tribune report]. The protest comes as US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton [official profile] has announced his intent [Sudan Tribune report] to see a UN Security Council [official website] resolution on Darfur by the end of February. UN peacekeeping missions require the consent of the parties involved in the armed conflict unless a Security Council resolution is passed under the mandatory powers of Chapter VII of the UN Charter. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan [JURIST news archive]. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• The Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on the Nigerian state government of Borno to remove the Commissioner for Police and Director of the State Security Service from office, alleging that the two individuals were party to knowledge that the February 19 riot [JURIST report] which resulted in over a dozen individuals being killed and a disputed number of churches being burned was planned ahead of time. The rally began as a protest of the controversial cartoons [JURIST news archive] depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad, but quickly turned violent, with rioters burning large portions of the Christian sector of the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri. CAN has alleged that the commission set up to investigate the crime has been deliberately slow, refusing to interview witnesses who showed up at local police stations to file complaints. The government and CAN also disagree about the numbers killed and wounded, and the number of churches destroyed. The government places the death toll at below 15, including four Muslims, but CAN says it has confirmed that at least 50 of its members are dead and over 40 churches were destroyed or damaged by fire. Nigeria's Daily Sun has local coverage.
  
  
• A senior member of the Zimbabwean Justice Ministry has revealed that the Zimbabwean government under President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile] intends to present legislation that would change the steps taken after a currently seated member of parliament leaves or is expelled from his political party. Currently an MP that leaves the party he was elected under must relinquish his seat in Parliament and the seat is opened to a by-election. Mugabe reportedly wants to change the law to allow MPs to change their party alliance and join another party while retaining their current seat. Opposition members claim that the draft legislation is designed to take advantage of the current split in the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website]. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive]. ZimOnline has local coverage.
  
  
• Officials in South Korea's Ministry of Justice [official website] have announced their intent to implement a series of criminal justice reforms that include replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment and restoring national election voting rights to prisoner's convicted of "accidental" crimes. The reform measures will be researched for viability by Justice Ministry officials, who will compare the proposals to other countries' methods already in place. If favorable, the reform proposals would lend support to a death penalty abolition bill presented to the South Korean Parliament in 2004 that is due for a vote sometime this year. Read the official South Korean news report. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of South Korea [JURIST news archive]. Chosun Ilbo has local coverage.

[JURIST] The execution of Michael Angelo Morales [NCADP profile], scheduled to take place just after midnight Tuesday morning, was delayed after the two anesthesiologists on hand to ensure that Morales would not suffer excessive pain during the process refused to participate due to ethical concerns. Morales, convicted in 1983 of murdering a 17 year old girl, had argued that the chemical cocktail to be used in his lethal injection violates the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment found in the Eighth Amendment [text]. US District Judge Jeremy Fogel [official profile] last week ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that California must change the drugs it uses when executing prisoners, and the Ninth Circuit on Sunday approved the presence of a doctor [ruling, PDF; JURIST report] to ensure that Morales would be unconscious during the execution.

Morales' death warrant must be exercised by 11:59 PM Tuesday or state officials will have to seek a new execution order from the trial judge. If the state is unable to find a doctor willing to participate in the execution, it is unclear whether they will be able to secure a second death warrant. Judge Charles McGrath, the original sentencing judge, joined Morales in a request for clemency [LA Times report] from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website], citing a lack of credibility of a San Quentin State Prison [official website] informant whose testimony helped secure the death penalty verdict. Schwarzenegger denied the clemency request [statement, PDF] late last week. AP has more.

[JURIST] The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art [official website] is set to sign an agreement with the Italian Culture Ministry [official website] in Rome Tuesday under which the museum will return several pieces of looted Hellenistic art in exchange for Italy loaning it other works of "equal beauty and importance." Under a 1939 Italian law, all archaeological property excavated in Italy belongs to the Italian state. Marion True, former director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, is currently on trial [AP report; NPR audio report] on charges of knowingly smuggling Italian artifacts in violation of the 1939 law.

The agreement could prompt other museums to repatriate works from their collections that were looted from important archaeological sites and acquired through dubious means. Greece and Turkey have also been active in seeking to reclaim what they consider to be stolen archaeological treasures, the most famous of which are the Elgin Marbles currently dispalyed in London's British Museum. AP has more.

[JURIST] The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art [official website] is set to sign an agreement with the Italian Culture Ministry [official website] in Rome Tuesday under which the museum will return several pieces of looted Hellenistic art in exchange for Italy loaning it other works of "equal beauty and importance." Under a 1939 Italian law, all archaeological property excavated in Italy belongs to the Italian state. Marion True, former director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, is currently on trial [AP report; NPR audio report] on charges of knowingly smuggling Italian artifacts in violation of the 1939 law.

The agreement could prompt other museums to repatriate works from their collections that were looted from important archaeological sites and acquired through dubious means. Greece and Turkey have also been active in seeking to reclaim what they consider to be stolen archaeological treasures, the most famous of which are the Elgin Marbles currently dispalyed in London's British Museum. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers asked the UK law lords on Monday to allow anti-war activists convicted on trespassing charges related to protests of the Iraq war to argue in their defense that the war was illegal. Fourteen Greenpeace protesters [profiles] were convicted of aggravated trespass [Greenpeace press release] in 2004 for attempting to stop or delay a shipment of military equipment to Iraq [Greenpeace briefing, PDF] before the 2003 war began, and a separate group of five protesters have been accused of trying to immobilize US bombers at a British airfield and are scheduled to stand trial later this year.

Defense lawyers told a five-judge panel Monday that the protesters should be allowed to argue that under the Criminal Law Act 1967 they are entitled to use reasonable force and even to commit ostensibly criminal acts in an attempt to prevent a greater crime, in this instance an illegal war of aggression [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Lord Hoffman was publicly skeptical of the argument, suggesting that under its logic British war protestors during World War II could have been entitled to shoot down British Spitfire fighters. The UK Court of Appeals had previously ruled that acting to prevent the commission of a crime could be considered a defense, but in this specific case, the defendants were acting in protest, not to prevent crime. The London Telegraph has more.