[JURIST] Florida House of Representatives [official website] Speaker Marco Rubio [official website] announced on Monday that the House will join the state of Florida in defending a challenge to a law [CS/CS/SB 1310 materials] requiring travel agencies booking flights to Cuba to post a bond ten times greater than that of other agencies. Proponents of the law state that it is in keeping with the longstanding US embargo on Cuba [PDF, Cuban Democracy Act]. Florida's governor approved the law in June, but in July a federal judge temporarily enjoined enforcement [AP report] of the law until the court can rule on its constitutionality in September. The plaintiffs, a group of 16 travel agents selling trips to Cuba, allege that Florida's actions are pre-empted by federal law, and that the state is improperly attempting to engage in foreign policy. CBS4 has local coverage.

In 2004, the White House tightened travel restrictions [press release; JURIST report] on travelers to Cuba. Invoking Cuba's status as what it called a "state sponsor of terrorism" and its past use of force against Americans and its own citizens, the administration authorized the US Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to prevent the departure of ships headed for Cuba, and to stop, inspect and even seize US ships en route to the island.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled [opinion, PDF] Monday that a former Temple University [official website] sexual harassment policy was unconstitutionally broad and violated the freedom of expression of graduate student Christian DeJohn [case fact sheet, PDF]. DeJohn submitted his complaint [text, PDF] against the university in February 2006, alleging that the school's policy had prevented him from expressing his views against women in combat. He charged that the policy was "vague, overbroad, and suppresse[d] the discussion of controversial viewpoints" and sought an injunction against its use or enforcement.  Upholding a lower court's ruling [opinion, PDF] that even though Temple had sufficiently narrowed its policy, it was facially unconstitutional, the court wrote:

Under the Temple Policy the following elements, if present, constitute sexual harassment: (1) expressive, visual or physical conduct (2) of a sexual or gender-motivated nature and which (3) has the purpose or effect of either (3a) unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work, educational performance, or status, or (3b) creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment...

...The policy’s use of "hostile," "offensive," and "gender-motivated' is, on its face, sufficiently broad and subjective that they "could conceivably be applied to cover any speech" of a "gender-motivated" nature "the content of which offends someone." This could include "core" political and religious speech, such as gender politics and sexual morality. Absent any requirement akin to a showing of severity or pervasiveness—that is, a requirement that the conduct objectively and subjectively creates a hostile environment or substantially interferes with an individual’s work—the policy provides no shelter for core protected speech. [Citations omitted]

[JURIST] Iraqi law makers Monday reached an agreement to temporarily divide control of Kirkuk [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] among the city's ethnic groups, as part of a compromise bill providing for provincial elections in the city. Control of Kirkuk has been major point of contention, with Kurdish members of the country's parliament [official website, in Arabic] demanding a referendum allowing city residents to decide whether or not to join the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq. Kirkuk Turkmen and Arabs had opposed the referendum [VOI report] for fear of eviction should the city become part of the region, and instead had supported long-term proportional representation among the groups. A vote on the elections bill was originally planned to take place on Sunday, but is now scheduled for Tuesday because of delays in reaching the agreement [AFP report]. Reuters has more.

An earlier version of the bill had been passed [Council of Representatives press release, in Arabic; AP report] by the Iraqi parliament in July, but was rejected by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [official website, in Arabic; BBC profile] and the two other members of the Iraqi Presidency Council because Kurdish parliamentarians had walked out of the vote in protest [JURIST report]. In February, the Presidency Council rejected an earlier draft provincial elections law [JURIST report] that detailed the relationship between Iraq's central and local governments, sending the legislation back to parliament. The draft law was part of a package of legislation approved [JURIST report] by the parliament earlier that month that also included the 2008 budget and an amnesty bill [JURIST report] that will lead to the release of roughly 5,000 prisoners. 

[JURIST] A judge for the Supreme Court of the Philippines [official website] Monday enjoined [ruling, PDF] government agents from signing a peace agreement with rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) [group website; BBC backgrounder], which would have granted expanded boundaries to the country's southern Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) [official website]. The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) first suggested that it might agree to increased autonomy for the region in 2005, and last week the government announced [JURIST reports] that the sides had finalized the peace deal and would sign it on August 5. The court Monday agreed with motions by two southern provincial governments for the issuance of a temporary restraining order against the signing, deciding to:

ISSUE a TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER, effective immediately, and continuing until further orders from this Court, commanding and directing public respondents and their agents to CEASE and DESIST from formally signing the GRP-MILF Peace Panel Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.

[JURIST] US Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) [official websites] have introduced a bill [S. 3401 summary, PDF; press release] designed to establish a procedure for all habeas corpus petitions made by Guantanamo detainees. The Enemy Combatant Detention Review Act of 2008 responds to recently raised concerns by US Attorney General Michael Mukasey [official website; JURIST news archive], who recently stressed [statement; JURIST report] that in his view it is inappropriate for the judicial branch to outline the process for trying terrorism suspects and that Congress and the Executive branch are best suited to form such policies.

The bill states that:

An application for habeas corpus filed under paragraph (1) by or on behalf of a covered individual— (A) may challenge the legality of the continued detention of the covered individual; and (B) may not include any other claim relating to the detention, transfer, treatment, trial, or conditions of confinement of the covered individual or any other action against the United States or its agents.

[JURIST] JURIST and University of Pittsburgh School of Law Dean Mary Crossley invite JURIST readers in New York City to join us Friday, August 8 at 5 PM at The Paley Center (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio], 25 West 52nd St., for a reception held in conjunction with the American Bar Association's 2008 Annual Meeting. The event is free and open to the public. Hear and meet JURIST founder and editor-in-chief Bernard Hibbitts and get the inside story on JURIST - what it does, how it works, and how it can help you.

We look forward to seeing you in New York! To RSVP, please click here.

[JURIST] US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher [official profile] Sunday called [statement text] on the government of Sri Lanka [JURIST news archive] to provide better human rights protections [2008 DOS human rights report] as it fights separatist rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) [official website; CFR backgrounder]. Speaking at a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation [official website] conference in Colombo, Boucher pledged additional military and humanitarian support to the country, but said that the government could not sacrifice its democratic or humanitarian principles in the name of security:

We are concerned about the human rights situation here. We have been concerned about some of the reports of abuses of the past that have not been fully investigated or have not had legal action taken at this point – such as the killings of aid workers. We have been concerned about the continuing reports of abductions, disappearances, some of the detentions of individuals, reports of intimidation against the media. All of these things need to be stopped. The government needs to take action to stop the perpetrators, and investigate and prosecute where necessary the people who have done these things. I think we will continue to focus attention on those problems and we will continue to call on the government, but also work with the government, to try to help a democratic government achieve the highest standards of democracy, because that is what the citizens expect of their government.