[JURIST] US President George W. Bush on Thursday criticized the Senate's judicial confirmation process as overzealous and said the legislature's constitutional mandate to "advise and consent" can be turned into a method by which to "search and destroy" a nominee's reputation. In a speech [text] Thursday evening at the 2007 National Lawyers Convention [event information] hosted by the Federalist Society [website], Bush said:

Unfortunately, the Senate has failed to act on many of my other nominees. At times it has imposed a new and extra-constitutional standard, where nominees who have the support of the majority of the Senate can be blocked by a minority of obstructionists. As a result, some judgeships go unfulfilled for years. This leads to what are called "judicial emergencies" -- vacancies that cause justice to be degraded or delayed. When Americans goes to court, they deserve swift and fair answers -- and the United States Senate should not stand in their way.

Three of my nominees to the Courts of Appeals have been waiting for a vote for more than a year. ... These delays are wrong. It is an abdication of the Senate's responsibilities under our Constitution. And I call on Senate leaders to give these nominees, and all my nominees, the up and down vote they deserve on the floor of the United States Senate.

Senate confirmation is a part of the Constitution's systems of checks and balances. But it was never intended to be a license to ruin the good name that a nominee has worked a lifetime to build. Today, good men and women nominated to the federal bench are finding that inside the Beltway, too many interpret "advise and consent" to mean "search and destroy."

As a result, the Senate is no longer asking the right question -- whether a nominee is someone who will uphold our Constitution and laws. Instead, nominees are asked to guarantee specific outcomes of cases that might come before the court. If they refuse -- as they should -- they often find their nomination ends up in limbo instead of on the Senate floor. This is a terrible way to treat people who have agreed to serve their nation. It's a sad commentary on the United States Senate. And every time it happens, we lose something as a constitutional democracy.

[JURIST] The house arrest order against former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [personal website] has been lifted, Pakistani police said Thursday. Bhutto was placed under house arrest [JURIST report] for seven days early Tuesday in an effort to block her from leading a planned 160-mile march [JURIST report] from Lahore to Islamabad protesting President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule [PDF text; JURIST news archive]. Police also arrested members of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party [party website] who tried to cross a police barricade to reach Bhutto, as well as hundreds of party members throughout Lahore. While under house arrest, Bhutto confirmed with reporters that she is no longer speaking with Musharraf, either directly or indirectly, and that her party may boycott the January parliamentary elections [CBC report] if Pakistan is still under the emergency decree. Reuters has more.

The government of Pakistan said Monday that the planned march violated the proclamation of emergency rule [JURIST report]. Musharraf said Sunday that parliamentary elections will take place in January, but set no time limit to the emergency [JURIST report].

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] declined on Thursday to hear the appeals of two US military deserters who sought refugee status within the country. Jeremy Hinzman [JURIST news archive] and Brandon Hughey, both soldiers in the US Army, fled to Canada in 2004 to avoid deployment in Iraq and applied for asylum [JURIST report] before the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board [official website] in 2005. Both applications were denied, as were their subsequent appeal requests to Canada's Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court denied leave to appeal in both cases without comment. After the high court ruling was announced, Jeffry House, a lawyer for the two men, said he would ask the Canadian government to create a program that would grant protection to deserters of the Iraq war.

Both Hinzman and Hughey cited moral objections to the war in Iraq and the punishment they would likely face if they returned to the US as grounds for asylum. The Immigration and Refugee Board had concluded [decision text; JURIST report] that the two men would receive a fair trial if they were returned to the US and that they would not face persecution or cruel and unusual punishment. It is estimated that up to 200 former US military personnel are in Canada avoiding war service [WRSC selected profiles] and that roughly 20 of them have applied for refugee status. CBC News has more.

[JURIST] The Parliament of the Georgian Republic [official website] approved a presidential decree on Thursday bringing an end to the country's national state of emergency [JURIST report] effective Friday. Chairwoman of the Parliament Nino Burjanadze [BBC profile] announced the decision following calls by both the US and EU to end emergency rule. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack welcomed the Georgian parliament's decision [press briefing transcript], saying that it's important that "independent media be allowed to operate and to do their job."

After several days of protests, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli announced a presidential decree last week temporarily banning demonstrations and public calls for violence or government overthrow. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili [official website] has blamed Russian spy agencies for instigating the protests [speech], though the Russian Foreign Ministry has dismissed those claims [statement]. In August, a Georgian court sentenced 12 opposition activists [JURIST report] to prison terms of up to eight-and-a-half years for participating in a coup plot that Saakashvili alleged was backed by Russia. Saakashvili has allied himself closely with the US and NATO since taking office in 2004, and Georgian authorities alleged that the convicted opposition activists had been supported by the Russian security services. Georgian-Russian relations have deteriorated markedly [JURIST report] in the last year. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Constitutional Council of France [official website] Thursday approved a controversial amendment to an immigration law [text; dossier, both in French] that would allow voluntary DNA testing to establish family ties between recent immigrants and relatives already living in France. The Council also rejected an amendment that would have allowed for the collection of ethnic data to promote diversity. The French Parliament passed [JURIST report] the immigration bill in October, and it will take effect after French President Nicolas Sarkozy [official website, in French] signs it and it is published in the official register.

The bill was passed by French Senate [official website] in a 185-136 vote last month after French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux [official profile, in French] made last-minute changes [Reuters report] to the DNA test section and the lower parliamentary house, the National Assembly [official website], passed the bill 282-235. Under the version adopted, the tests will be optional, sponsored by the state, will test only an applicant's maternal side so as to avoid potential disputes over paternity and will require the approval of a magistrate. Earlier versions of the bill [JURIST report] provided for mandatory testing. The DNA tests are meant primarily to verify family ties to French residents for potential immigrants who lack family records and to speed up the immigration process, but that provision has proved highly controversial. Critics argue that genetics should not be used to determine citizenship eligibility and opposition lawmakers have promised to challenge the law before France's Constitutional Court. AP has more.

[JURIST] An official with Russia's Union of Right Forces (SPS) [party website, in Russian] told a news conference Thursday that the opposition political party had filed a lawsuit with the country's Supreme Court [official website, in Russian] requesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website] not be allowed to run as a candidate in the country's upcoming parliamentary elections. Putin currently appears at the top of the list of candidates submitted by United Russia [party website, in Russian] for the December 2 election. If elected, Putin would be forced to turn down the post after the election, leading to SPS's allegation that the Putin's candidacy provides United Russia with an unfair advantage.

Putin's second term as president ends next year with a presidential election scheduled for March 2008. He previously ruled out a constitutional amendment [JURIST report] that would allow him to pursue a third term in office. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] threw out planned federal fuel economy standards [NHTSA materials] for light trucks and SUVs Thursday, ruling that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) [official website] did not adequately consider the environmental impact of the proposed standards. The ruling came in a lawsuit [JURIST report] brought by several states and environmental groups, which argued that the NHTSA ignored the effects of carbon dioxide emissions and certain SUV and truck classes when calculating the new fuel emissions standards. The new standards were due to go into effect next year and require an increase in the average fuel economy for all US passenger trucks from 22.2 miles per gallon to 23.5 miles per gallon by 2010.

In its opinion [PDF text], the Ninth Circuit wrote:

We hold that the Final Rule is arbitrary and capricious, contrary to the [Energy Policy and Conservation Act] in its failure to monetize the value of carbon emissions, failure to set a backstop, failure to close the SUV loophole, and failure to set fuel economy standards for all vehicles in the 8,500 to 10,000 gross vehicle weight rating ("GVWR") class. We also hold that the Environmental Assessment was inadequate and that Petitioners have raised a substantial question as to whether the Final Rule may have a significant impact on the environment. Therefore, we remand to NHTSA to promulgate new standards as expeditiously as possible and to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement.

[JURIST] The Tianhe District Court in China [JURIST news archive] convicted lawyer and dissident writer Yang Maodong [Amnesty report] of conducting "illegal business activity" and sentenced him to serve five years in prison and pay more than $5,000 in fines, according to his lawyer. Yang's trial began [HRIC report] in July on charges stemming from his publication of a book concerning a political scandal in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. Yang's lawyer said that he confessed to the charges after being tortured. Reporters Without Borders [advocacy website] Thursday denounced [press release] Yang's Wednesday sentence as "harsh and unjustified" and reiterated its call [PDF text] for China to release Yang and other detained dissidents before the Beijing Olympic Games. Human Rights in China [advocacy website] similarly criticized [press release] the district court's ruling. AP has more.

Yang was arrested in September 2006, along with two other Internet authors, Chen Shuqing and Zhang Jianhong [Independent Chinese PEN Center report]. A court sentenced [JURIST report] Zhang to six years in prison in March for defaming the government by editing a website in China that called for political reform.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday stayed the execution [order, PDF] of Florida death row inmate Mark Dean Schwab [FCCD profile, DOC] "pending the timely filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari." Schwab was scheduled to be executed at 6 PM ET on Thursday. The stay will terminate automatically if Schwab's petition for certiorari is denied. AP has more.

Earlier Thursday, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued [JURIST report] a per curiam opinion [PDF text] overturning a district court order to stay Schwab's execution. The federal district court blocked Schwab's execution [AFP report] on Wednesday pending the US Supreme Court's decision in Baze v. Rees [cert. petition, PDF; JURIST report] (07-5439), where the court will rule on the constitutionality of lethal injections.

[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Paulo Sergio Pinheiro [official profile] told reporters at the end of a five-day visit [JURIST report] to Myanmar [JURIST news archive] Thursday that he was able to meet with a number of prominent political prisoners, but that his request to meet with opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi [JURIST news archive] was denied by the ruling junta. Pinheiro was in Myanmar to investigate allegations of abuse related to September's crackdown on pro-democracy protests [JURIST report], which resulted in at least 10 deaths and the detention of at least 3,000 activists [JURIST report]. Among the detainees Pinheiro was able to speak with was prominent labor activist Su Su Nwe [AHRC materials], who was arrested Tuesday [JURIST report] while posting a leaflet outside of Pinheiro's hotel.

Pinheiro said was satisfied with the level of cooperation he was afforded by the junta, but AP reported that he privately told diplomats that he was unable to accurately determine the number of people detained and killed during the recent uprising. The junta says that only 10 deaths occurred during the protests, but dissident groups say the number is really in the hundreds or perhaps thousands [CBC report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] A British court ruled Thursday that the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] can be extradited to the United States on charges of supporting terrorism. Abu Hamza, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence in the UK [JURIST report] for urging his followers to kill Jews and other non-Muslims, faces US charges [PDF text] of attempting to establish terrorist training camps in Oregon, conspiring to take hostages in Yemen, and helping terror training in Afghanistan. With extradition approved by London's City of Westminster Magistrates Court, UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith [official profile] is free to render a final decision in the case.

The US initially sought extradition [BBC report] in February 2006, but hearings were delayed while Abu Hamza appealed his UK conviction. The US renewed its extradition efforts [JURIST report] earlier this year, after the House of Lords denied Abu Hamza's request to continue his appeals. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Justice Department has not yet made a decision on whether it will file criminal charges against Blackwater USA [corporate website] employees involved in the killings of 14 Iraqi civilians during a September 16 incident [JURIST report] that took place in West Baghdad, a DOJ spokesperson said Wednesday. The comments came in response to reports from the New York Times and the Washington Post [texts] that an FBI investigation into the incident that has concluded that the shootings were unjustified [JURIST report]. DOJ spokesman Dean Boyd told AP that the investigation is still ongoing.

The Blackwater allegations have caused domestic outrage in Iraq and have prompted legal controversy in the US. Iraqi government investigators probing the killings have concluded that the Blackwater security detail's actions were unprovoked, and amounted to "deliberate murder" [JURIST report]. Last month, The Iraqi cabinet approved a draft law [JURIST report] that would strip foreign security contractors of immunity from Iraqi prosecution. The US House has passed a bill that would expand US jurisdiction over the same private contractors [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a per curiam opinion [PDF text] on Thursday overturning a district court order to stay the execution of Florida death row inmate Mark Dean Schwab [FCCD profile, DOC]. The federal district court blocked Schwab's execution [AFP report] on Wednesday pending the US Supreme Court's decision in Baze v. Rees (07-5439) [docket; cert. petition, PDF; JURIST report], where the court has been asked to rule on the constitutionality of lethal injections. The Eleventh Circuit reversed:

The district court's action in granting the stay is contrary to the unequivocal law of this circuit that because grants of certiorari do not themselves change the law, they must not be used by courts of this circuit as a basis for granting a stay of execution that would otherwise be denied. ...

The grant of certiorari on an issue does not suggest a view on the merits. We don't know how the Supreme Court is going to decide the issues on which it has granted review in the Baze case, and the Supreme Court itself probably does not know given the fact that briefing has not even been completed in that case.

[JURIST] Polish prosecutors have charged six Polish soldiers with murder and violations of the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials] in connection with an August 16 incident in Afghanistan in which the soldiers allegedly fired into a crowd of civilians who posed no threat of harm to the soldiers. Six people, including three children, were killed by the Polish soldiers, and three women suffered severe injuries resulting in amputated limbs. Prosecutors said the soldiers had been sent to the village of Nangarkhel several hours after another group of Polish soldiers had encountered a roadside bomb outside the village. The soldiers allegedly found no Taliban troops hiding in the village, but opened fire on a group of civilians.

A seventh soldier was charged with lesser offenses in connection with the incident. AP has more.

[JURIST] A delegation of lawyers from the Iraqi bar association Wednesday hand-delivered a four-page letter to several US lawmakers that criticizes the US government for not devoting adequate financial resources to ensure the rule of law in Iraq, according to the Hill. The Iraqi lawyers, led by Iraqi bar association president Aswad al-Minshidi, delivered the letter to House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Senate Judiciary Committee member Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official websites]; a copy was also sent to US President George W. Bush. The letter also raised due process concerns over the long delays before detainees are given an opportunity to plead their case before a tribunal.

The Iraqi delegation met Tuesday with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts [OYEZ profile] and with White House special counsel Emmet Flood [SourceWatch profile]. The delegation also spoke with columnist Robert Novak, who wrote a column [text] on Thursday criticizing the Bush Administration for focusing their rebuilding efforts on "arrest and detention" rather than on the rule of law. The Hill has more.

[JURIST] The retired Supreme Court of Pakistan judge who unsuccessfully challenged General Pervez Musharraf in his recent bid for legislative re-election as president of Pakistan is bringing an application before the current high court challenging its constitutional status to rule on the pending case concerning Musharraf's eligibility for re-election [JURIST report] while still Army chief of staff. Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmad [Wikipedia profile] left the court in 1999 after refusing to swear an oath under the Provisional Constitution Order imposed when Musharraf initially seized power in a military coup. He originally filed his application over the weekend, but it was rejected by the new Supreme Court registrar as "non-maintainable". Ahmad insists it will be reintroduced, however. Pakistani legal experts cited by Pakistan's News daily say that the application cannot be preemptively rejected and requires a court ruling. According to the petition quoted by the News, Ahmad contends that that the new Supreme Court bench staffed by judges who have sworn oaths under Musharraf's Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) [text] “is in no legal position to rehear the case, as the Constitution doesn’t recognise it” and argues in the alternative that "If this court has the same legal status [as its predecessor led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry], no more arguments are required as the SC bench has already heard the parties and completed the process up to Nov 3, 2007.”

Admad told the News:

exposing the existing judiciary is important. We might be losing something by not pursuing the case, that is, throwing away an opportunity to expose the black sheep amongst us, but we will be losing all if we plead the case before these judges who have no legal and constitutional status.

[JURIST] A US military spokesperson on Wednesday acknowledged that a 238-page operating manual for the US facility at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] was leaked on the Internet, but said the document is out-of-date and does not reflect current procedures. The manual, titled Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) [PDF text], is dated March 28, 2003, and is labeled "Unclassified/for official use only."

According to a report [text] in WIRED.com, the manual was leaked on wikileaks.org, a site established in January 2007 to encourage government whistleblowers to release and verify documents. ACLU lawyer Jamil Dakwar said two passages in the manual were of particular concern from a human rights standpoint: one section concerning the use of dogs to "enhance physical security and as a psychological deterrent," and another section regulating the amount of contact different prisoners are permitted to have with representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross. The US military spokesperson said dogs are no longer used at Guantanamo, and that many other procedures have changed since 2003. AP has more.

[JURIST] Dismissed Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] warned the registrar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in a letter Wednesday that any effort by the government to remove him from his official residence in the capital, Islamabad, would amount to kidnapping. Chaudhry was responding to indications that he might be taken by police from Chief Justice House [file photo] to the southern city of Quetta. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf installed Abdul Hameed Dogar as the new Chief Justice of Pakistan [JURIST report] after his declaration of emergency rule on November 3, but Chaudhry has insisted that his appointment and those of other new Supreme Court justices under Musharraf's Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) are illegal. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper quoted Chaudhry as saying:

I am not interested in going to Quetta or elsewhere and it will be an act of abduction and forcible detention for which the secretary for interior, Islamabad’s commissioner [of police], deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner on duty shall be responsible along with law-enforcement agencies...Presently, I am holding the post of Chief Justice of Pakistan under Constitution and I am occupying the official accommodation.

[JURIST] The European Parliament committee on CIA activities in Europe (TDIP) [official website] will reopen its investigation into the alleged operation of secret CIA prisons [JURIST news archive] in Europe, two committee members said Wednesday. Giulietto Chiesa and Claudio Fava [official profiles] said that new evidence of secret prisons and rendition flights in Ukraine prompted the TDIP to reopen the investigation. Fava told reporters Wednesday that the "strong and very specific evidence" includes a document, which was featured on a Russian TV documentary, indicating that the country issued landing authorizations for CIA operated flights in 2005. There are also reports that a prison was built on a Ukrainian military base, which was used for 10 prisoners with 10 guards. Ukrainian officials have denied the allegations.

Fava headed the European Parliament's investigation into reports of secret CIA facilities in Europe, which was initially closed when the European Parliament approved [JURIST report] Fava's report [adopted text, DOC] in February. The report condemned EU member states for cooperating with the CIA in operating secret prisons and extraordinary rendition flights and criticized several countries for their "reluctance to cooperate" with the TDIP investigation. The report also noted that reports of secret prisons in Poland could be proved only by circumstantial evidence, and therefore could "neither be confirmed nor denied." AP has additional coverage. EUobserver has additional coverage.