[JURIST] The New Jersey Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a bear hunting permits case that presents the larger issue of whether the state Department of Environmental Protection has authority to block the hunt over the decision of the state Fish and Game Council (FGC). The New Jersey DEP has general authority over wildlife and natural resources, while the FGC has authority to set policies over the state's wildlife including setting hunting and fishing seasons. The NJ Superior Court had held that the NJ DEP had overstepped its authority in blocking the permits. The NJ Superior Court ruled separately on November 24th in Safari Club Intl v. New Jersey Dept. Environmental Protection [PDF] that the NJ DEP did have authority to close state lands under DEP control to the hunt. That case, expected to be appealed, is not yet on the NJ Supreme Court calendar. The present case is US Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation v. New Jersey Dept. Environmental Protection (link to appellate court opinion). AP has more.

[JURIST] Cuban authorities on Monday released three more of the 75 political prisoners they arrested in March 2003. The newly freed prisoners are Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Margarito Broche Espinosa and Marcelo Lopez Banobre. Chepe is a 64 year old economist and journalist. Broche is 45 and president of the National Association of Rafters for Peace, Democracy and Freedom. Banobre is 41, a tugboat captain jailed for communications with Amnesty International. All three are believed to be in poor health. The releases come in the wake of talks with EU members that would reverse some of the diplomatic measures taken against Cuba after the March 2003 roundup of journalists, librarians and freedom activists. Earlier this year Cuba released 7 of the 75 prisoners, also on health grounds. It is estimated that Cuba continues to have more than 300 people jailed as political prisoners. The US State Department has background. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff have rejected a complaint that the Amazon online retail company violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by targeting its toy area at children and allowing the posting of product reviews. The Act aims to protect children under 13 by forbidding websites directed at children from collecting personal information without parental consent. In a letter [PDF], FTC staff concluded that the Amazon website was directed at adults rather than children, and that the Kid's Review posting section is manually monitored to ensure that product reviews do not contain personal information. CNET News has more.

[JURIST] The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has raised concerns about possible fraud in Sunday's parliamentary and presidential elections in Romania. The OSCE, which had 18 international observers from 13 countries at the polls, flagged the possibility that some people voted more than once and said there were problems with the misuse of voter cards. As of now, with around half of the vote counted, the Social Democrats (PSD; official website in Romanian) have a small lead over the centrist opposition party Justice and Truth Alliance. The opposition party estimates the level of fraud to be at three-to-four percent has called for an inquiry into voting irregularities. Read the OSCE press release here. The website for the Romanian Central Election Bureau is here (in Romanian); the Bureau is reporting rolling vote totals here. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] A divided three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued an injunction Monday against the enforcement of the Solomon Amendment, a ten-year-old federal law which requires the United States Department of Defense to deny federal funding to institutions of higher education that prohibit military representatives access to students for recruiting purposes. The ruling came after a challenge was filed by a group of law professors and students under the rubric of the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR) who claimed the law violated university free speech rights and that the government had failed to offer any evidence that the law aided recruitment efforts. The amendment was objected to by many law schools because of the military's exclusion of gays and lesbians violated school policy about not giving access to employers who did not offer equal job opportunities as required by federal law. The Third Circuit decison is the first to decide on the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment and is likely to have a nationwide impact. The government may still appeal. FAIR provides documents relating to the case here. Read the Third Circuit opinion in FAIR v. Rumsfeld here [PDF]. The Philadelphia Inquirer has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in Ashcroft v. Raich (case summary from Duke Law School), a California case involving the use of marijuana as a legitimate medical treatment. The court is considering whether sick people in the eleven states which recognize medical marijuana can get around general federal laws which ban the drug. The Bush administration is arguing Congress has not found any acceptable medical use for marijuana and that by allowing such treatment, the government will be unable to eradicate drug trafficking and its related social harms. Paul Clement, the Bush administration's top court lawyer, argued before the court today that medical use of marijuana is potentially subjecting many people to health dangers. Raich's attorney countered by saying his clients are law-abiding citizens who need marijuana to survive. Justice Stephen Breyer said supporters of medical marijuana should take their fight to federal drug regulators before coming to the Supreme Court while other justices repeatedly referred to America's drug addiction problems. The case is an appeal from a decision [PDF] by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit which ruled against the government and found federal prosecution of medical marijuana users to be unconstitutional if the marijuana is not sold, transported across state lines or used for non-medicinal purposes. The Supreme Court ruled three years ago that the government could prosecute distributors of medical marijuana. The case is Ashcroft v. Raich, 03-1454. The Raich plaintiffs legal team has created an extensive website about the case and the isues it raises. AP has more.

[JURIST] In Monday's corporations and securities news, several leading record labels, including EMI, Warner, Sony BMG and Universal, are suing Sharman Networks, the firm behind leading file-swapping software Kazaa in an Australian court. Sharman says it has no control over what users do with swapped files. BBC News has more.

In other news, the SEC is under intense pressure to reopen public debate over reforms of stock-trading rules after SEC officials privately revised the proposals. The reforms, known as Regulation NMS, which will have profound implications on the US stock markets were due to be voted by the SEC on December 15. Bear Stearns, the Wall Street securities firm, is calling on the SEC either to drop the change or reopen the comment period. The SEC has more information including public testimony on Regulation NMS here. Read the proposed rule here [PDF]. The Financial Times has more.... President Bush has tapped Kellogg's CEO Carlos Gutierrez to be the new Secretary of Commerce. If confirmed by the Senate, Gutierrez will replace current secretary Don Evans. Read a transcript of President Bush's comments here. AP has more.... Merck & Co. Inc. has announced it has adopted a severance benefits plan for key managers in the event the company is taken over. The plan would give 230 people a package including cash, health benefits, possible retirement benefits and help with financial planning. Read Merck's SEC filing detailing the plan here [PDF]. Reuters has more.... The SEC is expected to formally adopt rules which will force hedge funds, which for years have invested large sums of money away from the public eye, to disclose information about their firms, investments, and strategies. Under the new rule, hedge fund managers have until February 2006 to register themselves as investment advisers if they both manage more than $25 million and have 15 or more clients. Boston Business Journal has more.

[JURIST] China and the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed an agreement Monday that will create the world's largest free trade area by removing tariffs for their 2 billion people by the end of the decade. The countries also signed a pact to expand last year's Framework Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors [DOC] to create an ASEAN community with a common market and common security goals. ASEAN has this press release and AP has more.

[JURIST] Chilean President Ricardo Lagos announced Monday that the Chilean government will be offering lifelong pensions to individuals on a monthly basis that are almost equal to the minimum wage for the same period. The announcement follows the publication of the report of the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture (official site in Spanish), which identified over 28,000 victims of torture that suffered under the military rule of General Augusto Pinochet. The report's details of individual circumstances has been sealed for fifty years unless an individual wishes to release their own records. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on Pinochet. BBC News has more.... Sudanese Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid announced Monday that the head of the UK mission to Sudan from the aid agency Save the Children was being expelled from the country for violating Sudanese law. The agency confirmed this and also announced that a letter of warning had been filed by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. The warning focuses on the statement by Save the Children that the Sudan government had dropped a bomb close to one of its feeding centers that was issued without confirmation by the African Union peacekeeping force based in Sudan. UK-based charity Oxfam also received a letter of warning Monday threatening to expel its country director. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on Sudan. Read Save the Children's statement concerning the initial bombing here. The Sudan Tribune has more.... The 2004 International Conference on Landmines, hosted by the African Union, opened Monday in Nairobi with a speech by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. The conference focuses on the status of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, called the Ottawa Convention, which aims to eventually outlaw the use of landmines. Ethiopia signed the treaty Monday, becoming the 144th country to accede to the banning of the use of landmines. BBC News has more.... Myanmar opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD) announced Monday that the Myanmar government has extended the house arrest of opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi has been held by the government since July 2003 and has been under house arrest in her Rangoon home since September 2003. U Lwin, spokesman for the NLD, said that government officials informed Aung San Suu Kyi of her extended arrest Monday, and stated the that NDL believed her new release date would be sometime around September 2005. The NDL won a landslide election in 1990, but has never been permitted to take control of the government by the military, which has run the country since 1962. The reported extension apparently comes at the behest of the new Prime Minister appointed by the military, Soe Win, who is known to oppose dialogue with the NLD. Channel NewsAsia has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that the US Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to last year's Massachusetts high court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. Read the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.

10:48 AM ET - The Supreme Court's Order List is now available here [PDF]. The Court granted certiorari in one case, Dodd v. United States, raising the question of when precisely a one-year time limit on challenge of sentence began to run for Michael Dodd of Florida, who was convicted on a drug conspiracy charge.

[JURIST] Reuters is reporting that the International Atomic Energy Agency has passed a resolution on policing Iran's promise to freeze all programs linked to uranium enrichment. The watered-down resolution welcomes Iran's suspension of sensitive nuclear activities as "a voluntary, non-legally binding, confidence-building measure." The IAEA has background on its negotiations with Iran.

11:19 AM ET - The IAEA Board Resolution [PDF] is now available, as is the Board's report on Implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in Iran [PDF].

[JURIST] AP is reporting that the Ukrainian Supreme Court justices have said that the court will not reach a decision Monday on the validity of the presidential election results.

9:22 AM ET - The Ukrainian Supreme Court Monday heard opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko's appeal against the official poll results in Ukraine's presidential elections. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner with 49.46% of the vote (Yushchenko received 46.61%), but the court suspended the results last week while it considered claims of massive fraud in the elections. The court said Monday that it would not come to a decision Monday, allowing more time for Yanukovych's lawyers to study evidence presented by the opposition. While the court cannot invalidate the whole election, it could order a partial or full recount. BBC News has more and background on the court battle.

9:46 AM ET - AP is reporting that Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has said that he would support another presidential vote if allegations of fraud are proven.

12:35 PM ET - BBC News is reporting that Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has backed new elections as a way out of the poll fraud dispute. A brief story is here.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Monday, November 29.

The US Supreme Court will hear 10 AM ET oral arguments in Ashcroft v. Raich (case summary from Duke Law School), where the Court will decide whether the Controlled Substances Act exceeds Congress' power under the Commerce Clause. The ABA provides merit briefs filed in the case. Knight Ridder has more.... The Court will also hear arguments this morning in Howell v. Mississippi (case summary from Duke Law School), where it will consider whether a state court can refuse to instruct a jury in a death penalty case on lesser offenses recognized in state law. The ABA provides merit briefs in the case. AP has more.

The US House and Senate are in recess. The US House will reconvene on Monday, December 6 at 2 PM. The US Senate will reconvene on Tuesday, December 7 at 9:30 AM.

The New Jersey Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday on whether the state's Charitable Immunity Act prevents a former New Jersey music school student from suing the school over alleged sexual molestation by school staff. AP has more.... In Alabama, a mandatory recount of votes on the state's Amendment 2, a measure to remove unenforced language mandating racial segregation from the state Constitution, will begin Monday. The Amendment was defeated by just 1,850 votes, or .13 percent. AP has more.

The trial of Fatmir Limaj and his co-defendants continues at the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Watch a webcast beginning at 2:45 PM local time (8:45 AM ET); the webcast is on a 30-minute tape delay. The ICTY has background on the case.

At the United Nations, the Security Council will meet at 10 AM ET to hear the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo and the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. Watch a live webcast. The Security Council will also hold 3 PM ET closed consultations on Burundi.... General Assembly President Jean Ping will hold a 12:30 PM ET press conference on his recent visit to North Korea and the latest developments in the General Assembly. Watch a live webcast.... The General Assembly will meet at 3 PM ET to consider the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East. Watch a live webcast.

In Spain, former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar is scheduled to testify Monday before the parliamentary commission investigating the Madrid train bombings. Reuters has more.