[JURIST] A twelve-person jury was selected Monday to sit in the CIA leak trial [JURIST news archive] of former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense website; JURIST news archive]. Even though jury selection began last Tuesday and was supposed to conclude Thursday the process was extended [JURIST reports] as too many of the original 60 jurors were dismissed on the grounds that they could not set aside their views on the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. Ultimately, nine women and three men were selected, along with four alternates; four of the active jurors oppose the Iraq war. Opening statements, originally slated for Monday, are now set to begin Tuesday, with Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald [official website] expected to speak for one hour and defense attorney Theodore Wells [official profile] expected to speak for two hours. AP has more.

Libby is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice [indictment, PDF; JURIST report] in connection with the investigation into the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. Libby's defense team has indicated that they plan to call [JURIST report] Libby's former boss, Vice President Dick Cheney [official website], to testify and that Libby also plans to take the witness stand himself. US District Judge Reggie B. Walton has denied a request [JURIST report] from several news organizations seeking the daily release of audio recordings of arguments and testimony.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] Monday dismissed a challenge to the constitutionality of changes to copyright law made in the 1990s. The Court affirmed a lower court's dismissal of Kahle v. Gonzales [opinion text, PDF], in which the plaintiffs argued that the move from an "opt-out" rather than an "opt-in" system of copyright law required a First Amendment review in order to be upheld as constitutional. Under the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) [PDF text] of 1998, a new "opt-out" system effectively meant that copyrighted works created from 1964 to 1977 are automatically renewed. In upholding the constitutionality of the CTEA, the Court relied on the 2003 Eldred v. Ashcroft [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report] ruling in which the Supreme Court held that the CTEA did not violate the First Amendment.

Monday's opinion faulted plaintiffs for making "no compelling reason" for the Court to depart from Eldred's holding and explained the Court's stance on copyright term duration as

determined by weighing the impetus provided to authors by longer terms against the benefit provided to the public by shorter terms. That weighing is left to Congress, subject to rationality review.

[JURIST] President Bush Monday celebrated his administration's anti-abortion record in a telephone address [text] to pro-life marchers demonstrating in Washington DC on the anniversary of the 1972 Roe v. Wade [opinion] US Supreme Court ruling. Bush told the gathering that "we're making progress":

We promoted adoption, support parental notification laws, ended federal funding for abortions overseas, and are funding crisis pregnancy programs. I had the privilege of signing legislation that extends legal protection to children who are born, despite abortion attempts, allows prosecutors to charge those who harm or kill a pregnant woman with harming or killing her unborn child, as well. I signed into law a ban on the cruel practice of partial-birth abortions, and we will vigorously defend that law in the courts.

[JURIST] A lawyer for Saddam-era Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan [Trial Watch profile] has filed an appeal [DOC text] with the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) [official website] arguing that the Tribunal's Appeals Chamber was not authorized to effectively direct its trial court to deliver a death penalty for Ramadan after originally according him a life sentence. Ramadan was convicted [JURIST report; BBC verdict summary] in November in connection with crimes against humanity committed in the town of Dujail in 1982. The Appeals Chamber ruled December 26 in its decision upholding Saddam Hussein's death sentence [JURIST report] that a life sentence for Ramadan was too lenient and ordered the trial court to re-sentence him. The Trial Chamber is expected to issue a death sentence [JURIST report] later this week.

Ramadan lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano argued Sunday that the Appeals Chamber improperly relied on Article 24 of the IHT statute [PDF text] when directing the trial chamber to increase Ramadan's sentence.

[JURIST] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] failed to respond promptly to allegedly improper e-mail correspondence between former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) [Congressional profile] and a former congressional page [CRS program backgrounder, PDF] from Louisiana in July 2006, according to a report [text, PDF] released Monday by US Dept. of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Glenn Fine [official profile]. Fine concluded that the email constituted sufficient basis for the FBI to take precautionary measures to protect congressional pages from Foley's behavior. The report does not allege misconduct by FBI officials, which did not launch an investigation until October after inappropriate instant messages, some of a sexually explicit nature, sent to pages surfaced. Among the suggested options for responding to the e-mail were notifying officials in charge of the page program and questioning the former Louisiana page to whom Foley sent the e-mail.

Foley resigned after the instant messages became public last September, spurring former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert [official website] to call on the DOJ to launch a formal investigation [JURIST report]. In December, the US House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct [official website] similarly concluded that Republican leaders failed to protect young pages [JURIST report] from inappropriate communications and Hastert most likely received at least two emails detailing Foley's abuses, but did not act on the claims for fear of creating scandal. AP has more.

[JURIST] The British government Monday released proposed money-laundering regulations that would broaden controls on businesses, politicians, and foreign officials with a view to controlling corruption, fighting crime and making financing of terrorism more difficult. The new rules would require financial institutions to investigate politicians and officials to confirm the legality of the wealth they acquire. The draft [PDF text; HM Treasury backgrounder] is an attempt to bring British regulations in line with the European Union's Third Money Laundering Directive [PDF text].

The proposed regulations are expected to go before parliament by summer; under EU law, Britain must enact the legislation by the end of 2007. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The office of the Russian Prosecutor General [official website, in Russian] has suspended its investigation into an alleged coup plot by billionaire businessman Boris Berezovsky [MosNews profile], a lawyer for Berezovsky said Monday. Berezovsky is currently living in London, and his lawyer said that the prosecutor's office has informed him that the investigation cannot be continued without Berezovsky's presence. Last year, Russian authorities requested that the British government extradite Berezovsky [JURIST report] on the coup charges after Berezovsky's comments on a Russian radio station in January 2006 that he had been planning a justifiable "forced takeover" in response to Putin's unconstitutional actions.

Berezovsky acquired his fortune in the 1990s and served as Boris Yeltsin's national security adviser. Although he helped Putin come to power as Yeltsin's successor, he soon fell out of favor and moved to the UK in 2000. He was granted asylum in 2003. Reuters has more. InterFax has local coverage.

[JURIST] The office of the Russian Prosecutor General [official website, in Russian] has suspended its investigation into an alleged coup plot by billionaire businessman Boris Berezovsky [MosNews profile], a lawyer for Berezovsky said Monday. Berezovsky is currently living in London, and his lawyer said that the prosecutor's office has informed him that the investigation cannot be continued without Berezovsky's presence. Last year, Russian authorities requested that the British government extradite Berezovsky [JURIST report] on the coup charges after Berezovsky's comments on a Russian radio station in January 2006 that he had been planning a justifiable "forced takeover" in response to Putin's unconstitutional actions.

Berezovsky acquired his fortune in the 1990s and served as Boris Yeltsin's national security adviser. Although he helped Putin come to power as Yeltsin's successor, he soon fell out of favor and moved to the UK in 2000. He was granted asylum in 2003. Reuters has more. InterFax has local coverage.

[JURIST] The special court for organized crime in Serbia [JURIST news archive] Monday began a trial for 35 members of the so-called "Bankruptcy Mafia" - including former Belgrade Commercial Court [official website] president Goran Kljajevic and other prominent businessmen, bankers, lawyers, and judges - accused of embezzling funds and used the government to secure financial gain. The defendants were indicted [Southeast European Times report] October 12 on charges of bribery, criminal conspiracy, and abuse of power. AP has more.

The same Serbian court is currently presiding over the trial of 13 suspects charged with the March 2003 assassination [JURIST report] of former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic [BBC obituary; memorial website]. The Belgrade District Court [official website] named a new presiding judge [JURIST report] for the trial in September.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] handed down decisions in three cases Monday, including Cunningham v. California [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report] where the Court struck down as unconstitutional California sentencing rules that allow judges to exercise discretion to tack on additional years to prison sentences beyond that determined by a jury. The Court overturned a California Court of Appeal decision [PDF text; modification, PDF], holding that California's Determinate Sentencing Law [backgrounder, PDF] allows judges to impose enhanced sentences based on a judge's, not the jury's, finding of facts and therefore violates the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Ginsburg, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Kennedy and a second dissent [text] from Justice Alito. AP has more.

In the consolidated cases of Jones v. Bock and Williams v. Overton [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court rejected rules established by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit as to when a prisoner can file a lawsuit contesting prison conditions under the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA) [text, see Title VIII]. According to the Court, the PLRA "requires prisoners to exhaust prison grievance procedures before filing suit," but Sixth Circuit rules concerning when a prisoner has exhausted other administrative procedures go too far:

The Sixth Circuit, along with some other lower courts, adopted several procedural rules designed to implement this exhaustion requirement and facilitate early judicial screening. These rules require a prisoner to allege and demonstrate exhaustion in his complaint, permit suit only against defendants who were identified by the prisoner in his grievance, and require courts to dismiss the entire action if the prisoner fails to satisfy the exhaustion requirement as to any single claim in his complaint. Other lower courts declined to adopt such rules. We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict and now conclude that these rules are not required by the PLRA, and that crafting and imposing them exceeds the proper limits on the judicial role.

[JURIST] UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [official profile; JURIST news archive] will most likely resign if charges are brought against his closest aides in a growing "cash-for-honours" investigation [BBC News Q&A], senior ministers have told The Guardian newspaper. The arrest of Director of Government Relations Ruth Turner [BBC News report] on Friday on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in a probe into whether British peerages were awarded by the governing Labour Party in exchange for donations or loans marks the fourth arrest in a scandal that already includes some of Blair's top associates, including personal friend and fund raiser Lord Levy [JURIST report]. Blair has publicly offered his support [press release] to Turner, who has denied any wrongdoing, "Ruth Turner is a person of the highest integrity for whom I have great regard and I continue to have complete confidence in her."

The Metropolitan Police [official website] team investigating the allegations have so far spoken to about 90 people, including Blair. The investigation began after revelations that some people recommended for peerages had made secret loans to Blair's Labour Party [party website] and other major political parties [JURIST report]. Trading cash for honors may violate the 1925 Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act [BBC backgrounder]. Blair is already expected to leave office shortly, effectively handing over 10 Downing St. to current Chancellor Gordon Brown. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] Australian officials said Monday that Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] could face reduced charges when he goes to trial before new US military commissions, the procedural rules [manual, PDF] for which were promulgated last week. Hicks' original charges [text, PDF; JURIST report], which were brought in 2004, have lapsed but he still faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for providing material support for a terrorist organization. US prosecutors could nonetheless offer him a plea bargain which could result in a reduced sentence, or a jury could find the five years he has served in American custody sufficient time served even if he is found guilty.

Australian Attorney General Phillip Ruddock [official profile] said in early January that his US counterpart Alberto Gonzales had assured him that Hicks would be charged soon after the new military commission rules were published [JURIST report]. President Bush has promised that a trial will be held [JURIST report], but has offered no timetable. The Australian government has been under increasing pressure [JURIST report] to call for Hicks' release. Hicks was picked up in Afghanistan while allegedly fighting for the Taliban. US prosecutors claim that he trained at up to four terrorist camps. AAP has more.

[JURIST] The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) [official website] resigned Monday as a controversial election threatens to undermine the political stability of the country. CEC MA Aziz voluntarily took a three-month leave of absence in order to resolve a political deadlock over the status and membership of the Commission. Most of Aziz's five deputies are expected to resign and the newly-appointed interim government charged with leading the country in the run-up to a national poll plans to appoint a new CEC within the next few days. The calls of resignation came from a 14-party coalition led by the Awami League (AL) [official website], which had demanded a flawless voter list before elections take place.

Earlier this month Iajuddin Ahmed [Wikipedia profile], the president of Bangladesh [JURIST news archive], deferred the January 22 election indefinitely and declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] in the face of violent political protests and political parties threatening to blockade voting places. Bangladeshi authorities arrested over 2500 people [JURIST report] and raided the homes of several political leaders in a crackdown following the swearing-in of the new interim government [New Age report]. Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] Monday urged [HRW statement] Rwandan judges and police to investigate and stop attacks on individuals administering or testifying in local tribunals known as Gacaca courts [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder] to bring those allegedly involved in the 1994 genocide [HRW backgrounder; BBC backgrounder] to justice. In a report [text] released by the rights watchdog Monday, HRW cited the November deaths of nine individuals in retaliation for the murder of a judge's nephew and a separate murder of another judge in charge of a grassroots court. Alison Des Forges, the senior Africa advisor for HRW, said:

Killings of genocide survivors cost human lives and threaten the delivery of justice. Prompt and effective law enforcement is the way to deal with this threat, not reprisal killings. Reprisal killings have been rare in the past, but if they become more frequent, they could spur a new cycle of violence.

[JURIST] Czech Republic Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek [official profile] said Sunday that leaders in Prague are not on board with ratifying the European constitution [official website; JURIST news archive] in its current form, and do not plan to take part in future ratification discussions. The decision marks the second time that the Czech Republic declined to continue debating the charter, the first being after the document was rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands [JURIST reports] in 2005. Topolanek agreed in a television interview [AP report] Sunday that Europe does need a new constitution, but urged EU states to adopt a simpler treaty saying the EU "cannot return to the document that already was rejected."

Topolanek's comments came just days before German Chancellor Angela Merkel [official website, in German; BBC profile], whose country currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, is scheduled to arrive in Prague. She is expected to discuss the proposed constitution and the European integration process with Czech diplomats as part of her campaign to have the document ratified by 2009 [JURIST report]. CTK has more.

[JURIST] Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza [official profile] said Sunday that his country's extradition [JURIST report] of 15 alleged drug kingpins and major drug traffickers [US DOJ list] to the US was a "unilateral and sovereign" decision by the Mexican government and not the result of any pressure from the US. Icaza said that drug lords Osiel Cardenas, Palma Salazar [DEA backgrounders], and brothers Gilberto and Ismael Higuera Guerrero were extradited to the US to prevent them from having contact with members of their drug cartels while in prison, to stop turf fights between their different drug cartels, and to lessen their chances of escape.

In 2006, Mexico [JURIST news archive] extradited 63 alleged criminals to the US following a November 2005 ruling by the Supreme Court of Mexico [official website] that prisoners serving life sentences can be extradited abroad [JURIST report]. The country plans to send more individuals [JURIST report] who have gone through the appeals process in Mexico unless they would be eligible for the death penalty in the US, which is illegal in Mexico. AP has more.