David Manes

Vietnam court sentences democracy activist to prison for propaganda

January 29, 2010 08:22:00 am

A Vietnamese court sentenced writer and democracy activist Pham Thanh Nghien to a four-year prison term on Friday on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda. Foreign observers were not permitted to attend the trial, which took place in the city...

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China high court announces new anti-corruption rules for judges

David Manes

January 27, 2010 12:48:00 pm

China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Wednesday announced new anti-corruption rules in an effort to increase public confidence in the rule of law. The new regulations prohibit various activities including accepting bribes, having...

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Uganda war crimes court may include foreign judges

David Manes

January 27, 2010 11:50:00 am

Ugandan Principal Judge James Ogoola said Monday that the newly established War Crimes Division (WCD) of the High Court will seek to recruit foreign judges. Ogoola explained the need for foreign...

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Federal prosecutors announce 7 new indictments in hedge fund probe

David Manes

January 22, 2010 09:14:00 am

Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced the indictment of seven more individuals in connection with the probe surrounding Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and former hedge...

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Kenya forming special tribunal to hear HIV-related legal issues

David Manes

January 22, 2010 08:25:00 am

Kenyan officials on Thursday announced the creation of a special tribunal to hear legal claims dealing with HIV , including discrimination and medical confidentiality cases. The tribunal will have the legal standing and powers of a subordinate...

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Pakistan high court releases detailed judgment on presidential amnesty order

David Manes

January 20, 2010 01:59:00 pm

The Supreme Court of Pakistan released its detailed judgment regarding the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) on Wednesday. The ordinance granted President Asif Ali Zardari and 8,000 other government officials immunity from...

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Botswana tribe to bring land dispute with government to ICJ

David Manes

January 20, 2010 12:04:00 pm

Spokesperson for the First People of Kalahari (FPK) Roy Sesana announced Tuesday that his organization plans to take its land dispute case against the Botswana government to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official...

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Canada high court declines to hear anti-abortion activist’s tax appeal

David Manes

January 15, 2010 08:49:00 am

The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday declined to hear an appeal brought by an anti-abortion advocate who refused to pay taxes on the basis that the money could be used to fund abortion [JURIST news...

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Federal judge denies new trial for ex-Qwest CEO Nacchio

David Manes

January 13, 2010 12:47:00 pm

A federal judge on Tuesday denied the request by former Qwest Communications CEO Joseph Nacchio for a new trial on insider trading charges. Nacchio had requested a new trial on the basis that the...

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SEC files new charges against Bank of America for failing to disclose losses

David Manes

January 13, 2010 11:09:00 am

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed new charges Tuesday against Bank of America (BOA) , alleging that the company failure to disclose to its shareholders "extraordinary losses" at Merrill Lynch...

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THIS DAY @ LAW

Nixon nominated Harrold Carswell to the US Supreme Court

On January 19, 1970, President Richard Nixon nominated Judge G. Harrold Carswell of the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to the US Supreme Court. The nomination became intensely controversial after a reporter discovered the text of a 1948 political campaign speech by Carswell in which he said "segregation of the races is proper." The Senate eventually rejected the nomination 51-45.
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Afterword
In November 2004, a JURIST reader wrote with regard to this entry:
You are factually correct. The speech is accurately quoted. But the most significant part of it wasn't that quote -- which, after all, reflected the law of the land through Brown v. Board of Education.
The most significant part was Carswell's avowal of his "firm, vigorous belief in the principles of white supremacy." I recall this because I was the reporter who discovered the speech, in the basement of the Wilkinson County courthouse in Georgia, where it was preserved as lead story in The Irwinton Bulletin, a weekly Carswell edited, which was kept because it was the legal paper of record."
Edward RoederRoeder later added: "just to ensure the accuracy of my quote from the speech -- including capitalization and punctuation -- let me check it. At the moment, I'm at the Library of Congress, a couple of blocks from my home where I have a photograph I took of the speech as printed in 1948 in the weekly newspaper.
Another great quote spawned by that confirmation battle was by Sen. Judiciary Committee Ranking Republican Roman Hruska, in response to the charge that Carswell was "mediocre." Hruska famously told the cameras staked outside the hearing room:
"Even if he was mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers . . . They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises and Cardozos and Frankfurters and stuff like that there."...
One other aspect of that nomination might be worth noting. After Carswell's defeat, the seat went to Harry Blackmun. A year and a half later, he wrote Roe v. Wade," probably the most controversial and far-reaching SCOTUS decision since Brown."And finally:I found and reviewed my photo of Carswell's 1948 speech. First, it may be helpful to provide a bit of context for the part you quoted. The graf read, "I Am A Southerner By Ancestry, Birth, Training, Inclination, Belief And Practice. I Believe That Segregation Of The Races is Proper And The ONLY Practical And Correct Way Of Life In Our States."
The first letter of each word is capitalized, the the word ONLY is in all caps.
The "white supremacy" quote, two grafs later, is as strident: "I Yield To NO MAN, As A Fellow Candidate, Or As A Fellow Citizen, In The Firm Vigirous Belief In The Principles Of White Supremacy, And I Shall Always Be So Governed." Again, the first letter of each word is capitalized, and NO MAN is in all caps. "Vigorous" is misspelled in the newspaper.JURIST thanks Mr. Roeder for sharing his recollections - and his role in a fascinating snippet of Supreme Court history.

Tribunal established for Japan war criminals

On January 19, 1946, General Douglas MacArthur promulgated the Charter for the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, creating a court in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals after World War II. Pursuant to Article 7 of the Charter, the Court's Rules of Procedure were set three months later. The judges and prosecutors represented the allied nations of the United States, U.S.S.R., China, Holland, Canada, France, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, and India.
Article 6 of the Charter divided the accused War Criminals into three classes. Class A war criminals were those guilty of crimes against peace. Class B war criminals were those found guilty of actual war crimes. The highest level war criminals fell into Class C for crimes against humanity. Court prosecutors indicted over 5,700 people in Japan for Class B and C War Crimes. When the tribunal's final judgment was issued two years later on November 1, 1948, 984 of the defendants were convicted and sentenced to death. 475 of them were convicted and sentenced to life in prison, while 2,944 received lesser prison terms. Finally, 1,297 Japanese defendants were either acquitted, not tried, or not sentenced.

Many of Japanese defendants were indicted for their actions during the occupation of China. Read the indictment of Class A war criminals involved in the Rape of Nanking.

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