[JURIST] UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [official profile] has sent a letter [PDF] to new Home Secretary John Reid [official profile] suggesting that "we...need to look again at whether primary legislation is needed to address the issue of Court rulings which over-rule the Government in a way that is inconsistent with other EU countries interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights."

Blair's letter comes after a judge's ruling Wednesday authorized temporary asylum for nine Afghan nationals who hijacked a plane from Afghanistan to the UK in 2000. The decision drew direct criticism from Blair [JURIST report], and on Friday prompted British Conservative Party leader David Cameron to say that he would press to repeal the Act [JURIST report] if it were not rewritten to address the government's apparent inability to effectively deal with criminals. UK Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said Saturday that the government was considering introducing legislation that would prevent the Human Rights Act [text] from interfering with public safety matters [JURIST report]. Supporters of the initiative say the law implementing the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text] serves as an important reminder to the courts of the importance of human rights, but does not permit the courts to override the decisions of parliament. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Israel [official website] on Sunday issued a 6-5 decision upholding the legality the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law [text], which limits the rights of Palestinians to live in Israel. The law, passed by the Knesset [official website] in 2002, allows only Palestinian women 25 years or older and men 35 years or older to join their families in Israel and eventually be eligible for full citizenship. In its opinion, the majority held that the law does not infringe upon the constitutional rights of Israelis, and if it does, that harm is "measured." The court's minority wrote that the law violates the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty [text] by infringing on the right to family life [Jerusalem Post report].

The petitioners challenging the law say it impermissably interferes with their right to have a Palestinian family in Israel, while the Israeli government says the law exists to prevent terrorist attacks. Critics call the law racist, saying that it is motivated by a desire to maintain a Jewish majority of Israel's population. Israel's State Prosecutor said that the state has granted 6,000 of the 22,000 family reunification applications received since a 1993 peace agreement between Palestine and Israel. AP has more. Haaretz has local coverage.

[JURIST] US Vice President Dick Cheney and his legal advisor and current chief of staff David S. Addington [Wikipedia profile] argued after Sept. 11 that the National Security Agency [official website] should listen in on domestic phone calls and emails without warrants, the New York Times reported Sunday, citing two senior intelligence sources. During debates regarding the legality of such methods following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, NSA lawyers reportedly won the internal White House debate, cautioning against using warrantless wiretaps to intercept purely domestic calls.

The NSA's domestic spying program [JURIST news archive], under which the agency intercepts communications by those suspected to have ties to terrorist organizations when part of the communication originates outside the US, was first disclosed last year. USA Today reported last week that the NSA has also been collecting phone call data [JURIST report] from the big three telephone companies to study calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity. Both programs are expected to be the focus of upcoming confirmation hearings for Gen. Michael Hayden [official profile], President Bush's pick to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Hayden served as head of the NSA from 1999-2005. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Over 10,000 pro-immigrant protesters marched through Paris on Saturday to demonstrate against a proposed immigration bill [JURIST report; legislative materials] that would effectively allow border officials to choose who will be admitted into the country. Specifically, the bill creates a "competence and talent" card that would identify "assets for the development and influence of France" possessed by the cardholder. The bill, supported by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy [official website, English version; BBC profile], would grant three-year working papers for highly qualified immigrants, make it more difficult to obtain residency by marriage, and would eliminate the automatic granting of long-term resident permits to immigrants who live in France for 10 years.

A first reading of the proposed legislation [JURIST document] is scheduled for next week. Critics of the bill [JURIST report], including the Catholic and Protestant churches of France, human rights groups and labor leaders, say the legislation would hurt French immigrants, as well as France's reputation of accepting foreigners. AP has more. Le Monde has local coverage.