[JURIST] Pakistani Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar [official profile] swore in four previously ousted judges as new members of the country's Supreme Court [official website] Saturday, bringing the number of the judges on the reconstituted court to 29. Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan and Justice Nasirul Mulk were members of the top court when they were effectively dismissed in November last year under former President Pervez Musharraf's proclamation of emergency. Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany were previously members of the Sindh High Court and were ousted from their positions by the same measure. Given existing rules of seniority, Khan will succeed Dogar when the latter is required to leave office on March 21, 2009. In the wake of this latest reinstatement, only six of the pre-emergency Supreme Court justices remain unrestored, most notable among the former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive]. After Saturday's reinstatements Law Minister Farooq H. Naek reiterated that under the Pakistan Constitution, only one Chief Justice could sit at any one time. The current Pakistan People's Party government has made no move to replace Dogar. From Pakistan, Dawn has local coverage.

Three other judges ousted from the Pakistani Supreme Court were reinstated [JURIST report] earlier this month. Critics of the government have described the piecemeal reinstatements [JURIST report] as evidence of a "conspiracy" to undermine support for total reinstatement. Last week lawyers in Islamabad and other centers boycotted legal proceedings [JURIST report] and held protests calling for the restoration of all judges ousted by Musharraf last November.

[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Friday ruled [opinion, PDF] that the civil rights of former Army Special Forces officer Diane Schroer [profile] were violated after a job offer to serve as the senior terrorism research analyst at the Library of Congress [official website] was rescinded following Schroer's disclosure to her future supervisor that she was undergoing a gender transformation. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] filed [ACLU news release] a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; materials] on behalf of Schroer in June 2005 under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 [text; EEOC backgrounder], claiming the Library of Congress made it clear they thought Schroer was the best person for the job in extending the offer, but immediately changed its mind after Schroer voluntarily disclosed her intent to undergo a sex change operation. The complaint also argued that Schroer's right to due process and equal protection rights were violated. The Library of Congress countered that federal anti-discrimination laws do not extend to transgender people. The judge found "compelling evidence" that the hiring decision was "infected by sex stereotypes," and concluded:

it is not necessary to draw sweeping conclusions about the reach of Title VII. Even if the decisions that define the word “sex” in Title VII as referring only to anatomical or chromosomal sex are still good law...the Library’s refusal to hire Schroer after being advised that she planned to change her anatomical sex by undergoing sex reassignment surgery was literally discrimination “because of . . . sex.”

[JURIST] The Pentagon on Friday announced [news release] that US Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann [official profile; JURIST news archive], the controversial legal advisor to the US military commissions at Guantanamo and supervisor of the Office of Military Commissions-Prosecution (OMC-P), has been reassigned to the newly-created position of director of operations of the Office of Military Commissions. As director of operations, Hartmann will be responsible for the initiation, review, staffing, coordination and execution of all planning and development matters relating to military commissions. Deputy legal advisor Michael Champan will become the new legal advisor to the military commissions. AP has more.

Earlier this year military judges presiding over the military commission [JURIST news archive] trials of Guantanamo detainees Omar Khadr and Mohammed Jawad [JURIST reports] barred Hartmann from taking any part in the trials of those detainees on grounds that he was unduly biased towards the prosecution. US Army Gen. Gregory Zanetti [official profile], deputy commander at Guantanamo Bay, testified in August [JURIST report] that Hartmann routinely bullied his counterparts and was inappropriately aggressive in seeking indictments against detainees. In May, Hartman was disqualified [JURIST report] from participating in the military commission trial of detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan [DOD materials; JURIST news archive].