[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Tuesday in the case of Credit Suisse Securities v. Billing [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 05-1157, a case in which investors filed a class action lawsuit against underwriters and institutional investors for their alleged manipulation of initial public offerings. The question presented was whether the plaintiffs' class can maintain their action under federal and state antitrust laws, or whether the federal Securities Act of 1933 [text] and Securities Exchange Act of 1934 [text] provide the sole means of redress for plaintiffs.

The Supreme Court must also decide whether the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] erred in holding that the investment banking entities did not receive implied immunity from antitrust claims. Justice Anthony Kennedy [Oyez profile] recused himself from considering the case. AP has more. SCOTUSblog has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The New Hampshire House of Representatives [official website] voted Tuesday to reject proposed legislation [HB 607 text] which would have effectively ended the death penalty [JURIST news archive] in the state. Had it passed, the proposed law would have set the maximum penalty for capital crimes at life in prison without parole. The debate was emotionally charged by the recent shooting of a police officer for which his assailant now faces execution. Opponents of the bill said overturning capital punishment so soon after the death of Officer Michael Briggs [memorial website] would be an insult to the state's police officers.

The New Hampshire legislature attempted to repeal the state's death penalty in 2000 and again in 2001, but the first attempt was vetoed by then-Governor Jeanne Shaheen [university profile] and the second try failed to pass the legislature. Current governor John Lynch [official website] has threatened to veto any legislation which would end executions in the state. Eleven US states have recently suspended the death penalty for reconsideration. Most recently, the Montana Senate voted [JURIST report] to repeal the practice. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US District Court for the Central District of California [official website] began jury selection Tuesday in the espionage trial of Chi Mak [CI Centre backgrounder], a Chinese-American engineer charged with conspiring to smuggle sensitive naval intelligence data to China [JURIST news archive]. The US government indicted [text, PDF] Mak in November 2005 for both acting as, and failing to register as, an agent of a foreign government in violation of 18 USC § 951 [text]. Mak allegedly stole computer disks from his employer, defense contractor Power Paragon [corporate website], copied sensitive information and attempted to send it to the Chinese government through an intermediary before his arrest at Los Angeles International Airport in October 2005.

US District Judge Cormac J. Carney [profile] has suggested that the trial may last between four and six weeks with opening statements scheduled to occur near the end of the week. Mak's wife Rebecca Laiwah Chiu and his brother, Tai Wang Mak, were also both indicted in the probe and are now awaiting trial. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Iowa Senate [official website] on Tuesday passed SF427 [text], extending the state's civil rights protections to gay and lesbians. The controversial legislation would officially add gender identity and sexual orientation to the list of groups protected from discrimination in Iowa. The bill now moves to the Iowa House of Representatives, where if passed, it would complement legislation passed earlier this year to protect gay and lesbian students from harassment in schools [SF61 text]. While Democrats supported the measure, Republican Senators expressed concerns about the scope of the protections offered. They worried how it may affect the state's prohibition on gay marriage and any school bans on cross-dressing.

Like many states, Iowa is struggling to refine its gay rights [JURIST news archive] laws. Over the past few months, Washington Senate has passed [JURIST report] a civil unions law, while Rhode Island and New Jersey have moved to recognize gay couple married in other states [JURIST reports]. Conversely, Indiana has joined a number of states in banning gay marriage and Hawaii has shelved its proposed civil unions legislation [JURIST reports]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCR) [advocacy website] Tuesday criticized the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) [official website] for its terrorist watchlist containing more than 6,000 names. A new LCCR report [text, PDF] entitled "The OFAC List: How a Treasury Department Terrorist Watchlist Ensnares Everyday Consumers," said the Treasury Department's publicly-posted List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons [text, PDF] often leads businesses such as credit bureaus and health insurers to incorrectly deny services to legal US citizens with similar names. The list specifies "designated parties with whom US persons are prohibited from providing services" [OFAC backgrounder] but often results in overbroad and incorrect screening, according to the report.

LCCR is urging the Treasury Department to rectify problems in the screening process to safeguard citizens' civil rights [JURIST news archive]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The late former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive; BBC profile] is under investigation for possibly ordering the murder of former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva [EB profile] in 1982. Although Pinochet died of a heart attack [JURIST report] in December, an investigation is underway to determine whether he directed state officials to poison Montalva with mustard gas. Montalva, who served as president of Chile from 1964 to 1970, was a vocal critic of Pinochet and the policies of his 1973-1990 military regime.

An investigation into Montalva's death was initiated in January, when his body was exhumed and traces of mustard gas were found. Montalva's son, Chilean Senate President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle [official website, in Spanish] has asked investigating magistrate Alejandro Madrid to rule his father's death a homicide. According to a lawyer for the Montalva family, there is presently enough evidence to determine that Montalva did not die of natural causes. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] The US District Court for the District of Columbia Tuesday dismissed [press release] a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; ACLU case file] against former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] for authorizing torture and abuse of detainees by US personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. The suit asserted that Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for detainee abuse and that his actions violated the US Constitution, federal statutes and international law. Chief Judge Thomas Hogan [official profile] based the dismissal on the immunity of government officials from lawsuits and the premise that US constitutional rights do not apply overseas. While noting that the allegations of torture were "horrifying," Hogan concluded that policy considerations counsel against permitting government officials to be sued for political decisions.

The suit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Human Rights First [advocacy websites], which had previously sued Rumsfeld [JURIST report] and other military officials in 2005 on behalf of eight former detainees [ACLU profiles]. A war crimes action [JURIST report] is also pending against Rumsfeld in Germany, where the German Federal Prosecutor [official website] is using Germany's universal jurisdiction law [AI backgrounder] to investigate similar allegations. AP has more.

[JURIST] Kosovan Prime Minister Agim Ceku [official website] Tuesday urged Serbs to accept a UN plan to have Kosovo govern itself as an autonomous, multi-ethnic society. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica [official website] responded that Kosovo "could never be independent" and calling the plan "an act of legal violence." The plan was narrowly rejected by the Serbian Parliament [JURIST report] last month and its future will now be determined by the UN Security Council. The Council is expected to hold its first formal discussion of the plan on April 3 before a divided membership: Russia supports Serbia, while the US and EU states support Kosovo.

In a report [PDF] sent by UN Special Envoy Marrti Ahtisaari [official profile] to the Security Council on Monday, Ahtisaari called independence with international supervision "the only viable option" for Kosovo. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed support for Ahtisaari's conclusions and said [press release] the UN plan was a "fair and sustainable solution to Kosovo’s future status." Ahtisaari's plan calls for the creation of a constitution which would protect the rights of all ethnic groups [JURIST report], emphasizing their cultures, languages and religions. Kosovo's two million inhabitants consist of roughly 1.5 million ethnic Albanians, 100,000 Serbs, and smaller populations of Bosnians, Turks and other ethnic groups. These groups would all be represented in the judiciary, police and political institutions, which would be monitored by an EU Mission in Kosovo [official website]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Italy launched simultaneous raids on Tuesday in a massive anti-corruption investigation involving European public servants. Over 150 police officers took part in over 30 raids of homes, businesses and banking offices, as well as the European Commission and the European Parliament [official websites] in Brussels. The investigation is focused on whether European civil servants and company managers were involved in organised crime, associating with known criminals, violating professional secrets, or engaged in forgery and breaking public procurement laws.

Prosecutors are investigating the conditions under which some European public tenders were awarded and allegations that civil servants took bribes from real estate and security companies in exchange for contracts to rent and secure the Commission buildings. The investigation was launched three years ago and also involves OLAF [official website], the EU's independent anti-fraud office. AFP has more. EUobserver has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] handed down decisions in two cases Tuesday, including Rockwell International v. US ex rel. Stone [Duke Law case backgrounder] where the Court held that individuals must be able to show that they are the "original source" of information concerning the fraudulent use of federal funds in order bring suit against an organization on behalf of the federal government. Stone brought a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act [text] against Rockwell for falsely representing compliance with federal environmental regulations. The lower courts ruled against Rockwell's motion to dismiss, holding that Stone was an "original source" due to his independent knowledge of both some of the violations and Rockwell's duty to comply with regulations. The Supreme Court vacated the Tenth Circuit's decision [text] in the case, holding that the whistle-blower attempting to bring suit must have "direct and independent knowledge" of all the allegations surrounding the suit, including those as amended in revised complaints. Stone did not have direct knowledge of the violations for which the jury found Rockwell culpable, and therefore he was not able to recover a portion of Rockwell's payment to the government as provided in the Act. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Scalia and a dissent [text] from Justice Stevens. AP has more.

In Limtiaco v. Camacho [Duke Law case backgrounder], the Court held that "Guam's debt limitation must be calculated according to ... the assessed valuation" of property in Guam. The Organic Act of Guam [text] requires that public indebtedness be limited to 10 percent of the "aggregate tax valuation of the property on Guam" and there was a dispute over whether that should be calculated using the assessed valuation or appraised valuation of property. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Thomas, along with a partial concurrence and dissent [text] per Justice Stevens.

[JURIST] A French appeals court on Tuesday overturned the conviction of French state railway company SNCF [corporate website] for the deportation of two Jewish men during World War II. An administrative court in Toulouse convicted [judgment, in French; JURIST report] SNCF last June. The lawsuit was brought by the family of European Parliament MEP Alain Lipietz [personal website], whose father and uncle were taken by a train to the Drancy transit camp [JVL backgrounder] in Paris in May 1944. After SNCF was ordered to pay $83,000 dollars in compensation, it appealed to the administrative court of appeal in Bordeaux, which held the issue to be outside the jurisdiction of the original administrative court. The Lipietz family plans to take the case to the State Council in Paris, France's highest administrative court.

SNCF announced [JURIST report] in October that since June 2006 it has received about 1,200 claims [JURIST report] related to its role in helping the Nazis [JURIST news archive] transport people, mostly Jews, to concentration and death camps during Germany's occupation of France in World War II. AFP has more.

[JURIST] FBI Director Robert Mueller [official profile] asserted Tuesday that the agency is able to properly use the surveillance powers granted it under the Patriot Act [JURIST news archive], telling senators at a US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] hearing [materials and witness testimony] that a compliance program has been implemented to police the use of National Security Letters (NSL) [CRS backgrounder, PDF]. Mueller insisted that the Patriot Act was not the cause of FBI abuses, however, committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] told the director that the committee will "be re-examining the broad authorities we granted."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation [official website] illegally gathered data [JURIST report] from telephone and financial records of both US citizens and foreigners while searching for terrorists, according to a 130-page report [PDF text] issued by US DOJ Inspector General Glenn Fine [official profile] earlier this month. Last week, Fine told [JURIST report] the US House Judiciary Committee [official website] that the confusion and abuse surrounding the use of NSLs was "unacceptable and inexcusable." AP has more.

[JURIST] An Illinois jury sided with Merck & Co. [corporate website] Tuesday in the latest Vioxx [FDA backgrounder; JURIST news archive] litigation, holding that the painkiller was not the cause of the 2003 death of 52-year-old Patty Schwaller. Schwaller's husband claimed that Vioxx contributed to his wife's fatal heart attack and that Merck failed to adequately warn doctors and consumers about the increased risk of heart attack associated with the drug. A Madison County jury found, however, that Schwaller's collapse and sudden death may have been caused by risks associated with her weight and other health issues.

In early March, the New Jersey Superior Court upheld [JURIST report] a separate jury verdict that found Merck adequately warned physicians of the risks associated with Vioxx. A week later, a New Jersey jury awarded [JURIST report] a plaintiff $20 million and held that Vioxx caused the plaintiff's heart attack and, had the plaintiff's doctor known of the risks associated with Vioxx, he would not have prescribed it to the plaintiff. Merck faces more than 27,000 lawsuits from people who say they were harmed by the once $2.5 billion-a-year drug before it was pulled from the market [press release] in September 2004. Merck has set aside $1 billion to fight every Vioxx court challenge. In November 2006, a federal judge declined to certify a national class action suit [JURIST report], ruling that it made more sense to try the cases in their respective states of origin. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki [BBC profile] and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [official website, in Arabic; BBC profile] announced plans Tuesday to present new legislation to the Iraqi National Assembly [official website] in upcoming weeks that would allow most members of Saddam Hussein's now-defunct Baath Party [BBC backgrounder] to be reinstated to public life. Under the new law, the government would be authorized to replace the DeBaathification Commission [official website] with a rehabilitation program. The DeBaathification Commission has been criticized for widely banning former party members from office without exceptions those who joined out of necessity rather than actual belief in the Baathist platform.

The law would establish a three-month window to challenge former Baath members after which they would be immune from prosecution, but would exclude Baath members who have been charged with crimes. When the Commission first planned to propose reinstatement [JURIST report] of Baath party members last November, the Bush administration urged the Iraqi government to shift the DeBaathification Commission's focus from rooting out ex-party members to promoting "accountability and reconciliation" in the interests of diminishing violence. BBC News has more.

8:46 PM ET - Members of the DeBaathification Commission criticized the proposed law Tuesday, saying the commission had not been consulted on the proposal and expressing concern that the law would only increase sectarian violence in Iraq. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Rights violations being committed in Central Asia are comparable to abuses perpetrated in the former Soviet Union, according the annual report [press release; text] released Tuesday by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF). The IHF was particularly critical of Uzbekistan [JURIST news archive] and Turkmenistan [Wikipedia backgrounder]. According to the report, problems in those countries include government interference in the courts, widespread use of torture, and the suppression of political opposition, media and civil society.

Belarus and the Russian North Caucasus region, particularly Chechnya [JURIST news archives], were listed as priority regions as well. The report also criticized the US for arbitrary detentions at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] and other rights violations in its fight against terrorism. RFE/RL has more.

[JURIST] Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) [official website] has proposed amending a bill requiring girls to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) [US CDC fact sheet], a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, to allow parents to opt out of the mandate more easily. Kaine announced his recommendation Monday rather than sign the bill, as he had pledged to do [JURIST report] despite concerns about the adequacy of the opt-out provision [Virginian-Pilot report]. Kaine suggested that the General Assembly strike a requirement from the bill [HB 2035 text] that parents and guardians use a state-mandated form to exempt a child from vaccination. In place of that language, Kaine's recommendation [text] inserts the following:

Because the human papillomavirus is not communicable in a school setting, a parent or guardian, at the parent or guardian's sole discretion, may elect for their child not to receive the human papillomavirus vaccine, after having reviewed materials describing the link between the human papillomavirus and cervical cancer approved for such use by the Board [of Health Regulations for the Immunization of School Children].

[JURIST] The Egyptian government said Tuesday that voters overwhelmingly approved 34 amendments [JURIST report] to the country's constitution [text] despite low voter turnout in the referendum [JURIST report] overall. Egyptian Justice Minister Mamdouh Marei said that almost 76 percent of those voting cast their ballot in favor of the amendments but only 27 percent of Egyptians actually showed up to the polls. Rights groups voiced concern [EOHR press release] over the voting totals with the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights [advocacy website] counting only two to three percent of Egyptians having voted five hours prior to polls closing. The Hisham Mubarak Law Center also accused the government of stuffing ballot boxes at poll sites.

Opposition groups, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood [party website; JURIST news archive], boycotted [JURIST report] the referendum, accusing the government of pushing the amendments to protect the ruling party from genuine competition in the 2011 presidential elections. Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak [official profile; JURIST news archive], however, defended the amendments [JURIST report] as necessary to "stop the exploitation of religion and illegal political power" in Egypt. AP has more.

[JURIST] A senior aide of US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive] has said that she will assert her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination rather than testify regarding the events surrounding the firing of eight US Attorneys [JURIST news archive]. Monica Goodling, the US Justice Department's liaison to the White House, was one of the aides who took part in planning the firings and is currently on a voluntary leave from her position. Her decision to avoid testifying came as a surprise to US Justice officials who promised complete cooperation with the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] investigation into the firings. Goodling's attorney, John Dowd, urged her to plead the Fifth Amendment, calling any questioning of his client a "perjury trap" while citing the recent conviction of Lewis Libby [JURIST report] in the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive].

Goodling's announcement coincides with a tour by Gonzales to several states across the US in an attempt to regain his sinking credibility [JURIST report] with US Attorneys and politicians. The US House of Representatives [official website] voted 329-78 [roll call] Monday in favor of limiting Gonzales' power to name interim US attorneys, following a vote by the US Senate [JURIST report] last week to do the same. President Bush has said he has no plans to veto the legislation. AP has more.

[JURIST] Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] may be sentenced this week after pleading guilty [JURIST report] Monday to a charge of supporting terrorism [JURIST report] and could return home to serve his sentence by the end of the year, according to US military officials. Col. Ralph Kohlmann, the judge presiding over Hicks' military commission [JURIST news archive], issued a gag order in the case, so it was unclear whether a plea bargain had been reached between Hicks and the US government. Lawyers for Hicks said their client was severely depressed and questioned the fairness of his impending trial, especially since two of his lawyers were disqualified by Kohlmann at a hearing earlier Monday. Col. Morris Davis [official profile], chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] tribunals, speculated that Hicks would return to Australia by the end of the year to serve his sentence. The sentence must be approved by a panel of military tribunal members, which could occur this week. Davis said he plans to seek a sentence of 20 years for the charge against Hicks and the five years he has already been detained may be included as time served toward the total sentence.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer [official website] said he was pleased that this "saga" had come to an end [transcript; ABC Australia report], but also criticized the US legal process for taking too much time to charge and arraign Hicks, echoing comments by Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official website]. Hicks is the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried [JURIST report] under the new Military Commissions Act [PDF text] that revived the tribunals after the US Supreme Court ruled that the previous system, created under an executive order from US President George W. Bush, was unconstitutional. AP has more.