[JURIST] Mexican rights activists are pressing Mexican President Felipe Calderón [official profile, in Spanish] to sign a bill lightening penalties for illegal migrants found in the country after the measure passed the lower house of the Mexican Congress Tuesday. Prison terms of one and a half to six years under current law would be reduced to fines of roughly $745 to $2400 US. Proponents of the legislation see it as providing important protection for migrants, may of whom come in from Central America on their way to the United States, and who are currently subject to harsh treatment and abuse by both criminal elements and law enforcement. Rights activists also see the legislation as potentially sending a positive message to the United States Congress about how Mexico treats its own immigrants as Mexican officials - including Calderon himself [JURIST report] from the outset of his administration last fall - urge better treatment for Mexicans caught illegally coming into the US.

Calderon has not indicated whether he will sign the popular bill. AP has more.

[JURIST] Two judges of Kenya's High Court [constitutional provisions], the court's top judicial authority, were fired from their positions Friday after two investigatory tribunals found them guilty of corruption. The judges had already been suspended while their cases were reviewed. A third High Court judge was reinstated after none of the allegations against him were found to be substantiated. Justice Vitalis Juma and Justice Thomas Mbaluto are the first two judges to be involuntarily removed from office in Kenya's 48-year history. Juma and Mbaluto were both found to have accepted bribes to resolve cases in particular ways or to speed up proceedings.

The Kenyan government has taken a number of anti-corruption initiatives in recent years, especially after President Mwai Kibaki [official profile; JURIST news archive] promised to clean up widespread government graft after being elected to office in 2002. In October 2003, 23 judges and 73 magistrates were suspended from their positions; cases against several are still pending, although most opted to retire rather than face investigation. Four suspended judges have so far been reinstated. AP has more. From Nairobi, The Nation has local coverage.

[JURIST] Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. [official profile] of the US Eastern District of Louisiana ruled again Friday that the US Army Corps of Engineers [official website] cannot claim immunity from suit in connection with damages suffered by plaintiffs by virtue of alleged defects in the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO) [USACE backgrounder]. Duval said that the outlet was a shipping channel and not a flood control outlet in connection with which the Corps would have been properly immune in tort. He rejected the Corps' argument that the MRGO was nonetheless part of a larger flood control system in the New Orleans area. AP has more.

Duval made a similar ruling [JURIST report] in February 2007 in the context of an earlier motion to dismiss. Three months before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, an expert at the LSU Hurricane Center [official website] predicted that the MRGO could amplify storm surges by 20-40 percent. After Katrina, the center determined through computer modeling that the presence of the MRGO also increased the speed of the surge, causing an even greater detrimental effect [Washington Post report].

[JURIST] Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf "may accept the restoration of judges if the government amends the constitution," a spokesman for his political party said Saturday, according to AP. On Friday former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, leader of the subordinate party in the country's new coalition government, said that the judges would be restored May 12 [JURIST report] and a resolution to that affect would be introduced in parliament. AP has more.

Pakistani Attorney General Malik Qayyum, a Musharraf stalwart, said [JURIST report] in March that the judges ousted by Musharraf last November under his declaration of emergency rule could only be reinstated if the newly elected members of the National Assembly of Pakistan by a two-thirds majority vote struck down constitutional changes [JURIST report] Musharraf introduced following the dismissals, in particular a December 14 amendment providing that any judge who has not taken an oath under the Oath of Office (Judges) Order, 2007 [text] established under Musharraf's Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) [text as amended] ceased to hold office effective November 3. Pakistan's News daily reported Friday that if a constitutional amendment were not forthcoming, Musharraf would seek a Supreme Court stay against any attempt to restore the judges by means of an Executive Order only.

Pakistani media reported Thursday that unannounced details [JURIST report] of the restoration deal struck in Dubai between Sharif and Pakistan People's Party chief Asif Ali Zardari include a constitutional reform package to be introduced after a resolution restoring the judges is passed. Local media said earlier this month that such a package had been prepared by Law and Justice Minister Farooq H. Naik and forwarded for consideration to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.