[JURIST] The House Judiciary Committee [official website] Wednesday approved the Senate's bankruptcy bill [THOMAS bill summary] 22-13 in a vote largely along party lines, turning back a number of Democrat-proposed amendments. The legislation would require people with incomes above a certain level to pay credit-card charges, medical bills and other obligations under a court-ordered bankruptcy plan. The current system gives more discretion to bankruptcy judges in determining which, if any, debts can be dissolved. Opponents of the bill say it would trap people who are recovering fom high medical costs or a loss of a job in perpetual debt. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase:

• Senate-approved bankruptcy bill moves to House
• Senate defeats Democrat efforts to soften bankruptcy bill
• Bankruptcy limitation bill going before Senate

[JURIST] The US Justice Department announced Wednesday it will award $100,000 to the National Center for State Courts to review judicial safety and security. The review will evaluate security-conscious designs for new courthouses, staff training for security equipment, emergency preparedness and common standards for protecting judges and others. Court security came to the fore earlier this month after the shooting deaths of judges and relatives of judges in Atlanta [JURIST report] and Chicago [JURIST report] and a US Judicial Conference recommendation for greater "off-site" security measures [JURIST report]. Read the DOJ press release announcing the grant. AP has more. The National Center for State Courts elaborates their security proposals in a recent press release.

[JURIST] The UK House of Lords [official website] and House of Commons [official website] clashed Wednesday over proposed legislation to effect key changes to the British legal system. The legislation aims to further separate the judiciary from politics by stripping the Lord Chancellor’s traditional authority and creating a Supreme Court to which judges would be appointed by an independent panel. In the Commons the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Tony Blair would also like to ban non-lawyers and non-representative peers from being able to hold the title of Lord Chancellor - a proposition fiercely opposed by the Lords themselves. Conservative shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve supports the ban, saying that the new Lord Chancellor position “should not become prey to party politics.” Review the text of the Constitutional Reform Bill [as brought from the Lords on 21st December 2004] and read House of Commons Research Papers on the proposed Supreme Court for the United Kingdom [PDF] and the office of Lord Chancellor [PDF]. The UK Press Association more.

[JURIST] JPMorgan Chase & Co. [corporate website] agreed to a $2 billion settlement [JPMorgan press release] Wednesday in order to settle claims in a class action suit brought after WorldCom's [JURIST Hot Topic archive] collapse. The plaintiffs, WorldCom investors, have now settled with all defendants named in the amended complaint [PDF text], except auditor Arthur Andersen and former WorldCom board member Bert Roberts. US District Judge Denise Cote indicated that she might delay jury selection in the trial, which was supposed to begin Thursday, until next week so that it becomes clear "who's in and who's out." AP has more. Plaintiff filings, pleadings, court orders and more can be found at the WorldCom securities litigation website.

[JURIST] The US Department of Energy [official website] said Wednesday that government employees may have falsified documents related to Nevada's Yucca Mountain [official website] nuclear waste project. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman [official profile] said that, while preparing for a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, several e-mails from a US Geological Survey employee were discovered in which the employee "indicated that he had fabricated documentation of his work." Bodman said that the department is investigating what kind of information was falsified and whether it would affect the scientific underpinnings of the project. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, staff at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [official website] will recommend the agency block Blockbuster Inc.'s [corporate website] prospective bid to buy Hollywood Entertainment Corp. [corporate website] saying the deal would hurt competition in the market for video rentals. The staff will make a formal recommendation to the agency's five commissioners in the next several days. Read the Blockbuster press release about its offer for Hollywood Entertainment. Reuters has more.

In other news...

• Minneapolis-based restaurant operator Buca Inc. [corporate website] announced the firing of two executives over an internal investigation which revealed accounting irregularities. AP has more.
  
  
• Siebel Systems Inc. [corporate website], the world's largest maker of customer-service software, moved for a dismissal of charges brought by the SEC related to allegations it gave market-moving information to certain investors. Siebel argues the charges should be dismissed because regulators have no enforcement authority. This is the first legal challenge to the government's fair disclosure rule. Inside Bay Area has more.
  
  
• Research In Motion (RIM) [corporate website] announced it will pay $450 million to BlackBerry maker NTP to settle a patent suit. The settlement allows RIM to continue its BlackBerry-related wireless business without interference. Read the RIM press release. CNET News has more.
  
  
• American International Group Inc.'s [corporate website] chairman Hank Greenberg [Wikipedia profile], who resigned as chief executive officer of the world's largest insurer earlier this week, also may give up his role as chairman. The resignation of the posts comes in the wake of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's [official website] examination into Greenberg over allegations he initiated a reinsurance transaction in 2000 which manipulated earnings. Bloomberg has more.
  
  
• Swire Pacific [corporate website], the owner of Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways, announced it will not relinquish control of the airline following reports of a possible takeover bid by Air China [corporate website]. Read the Swire Pacific press release [PDF]. The International Herald Tribune has more.
  
  
• A Tokyo District Court has upheld its previous ruling which allows for a hostile takeover bid by Japanese internet company Livedoor of Nippon Broadcasting System. The court had blocked Nippon's attempt to issue massive amounts of new shares to stop the takeover. AP has more.
  
  
• President Bush will nominate Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz [official biography] as his choice to be president of the World Bank [official website]. CNN has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate voted 51-49 [Senate roll call] Wednesday afternoon to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [official website]. The Senate defeated an amendment [amendment summary] that would have removed the refuge drilling provision from next year's budget. The provision will be included in the budget when Congress goes to vote on it later this year. President Bush has said that tapping the reserve's oil is critical to the nation's energy security and will reduce US reliance on oil imports. Environmentalists say that pipelines and drilling platforms will harm the refuge's wildlife. AP has more.

[JURIST] CBC News is reporting that Ripudaman Singh Malik [CBC News profile] has been found not guilty [CBC News report] on all charges stemming from the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people and resulted in the longest and most expensive trial in Canadian legal history. Malik was also found not guilty of a separate bombing that killed two Japanese baggage handlers. British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Ian Bruce Josephson is currently reading the verdict against Malik's co-defendant Ajaib Singh Bagri. CBC News has extensive background on the bombing and resulting trial.

2:08 PM ET - Ajaib Sing Bagri has also been found not guilty of conspiracy and murder in the Air India bombing. Malik and Bagri were charged [indictment, PDF] with conspiracy to commit murder, first degree murder of the passengers and crew of Air India flight 182, and attempted murder of the passengers and crew. Malik and Bagri were also charged with first degree murder stemming from a separate bombing at a Japanese airport that occurred the same day as the Air India bombing, as well as other conspiracy charges. In issuing his verdict, Justice Josephson said that witness testimony was inconsistent and not credible. The verdict will likely be appealed, and family members of those killed in the bombing are renewing calls for a public inquiry into how the Canadian Security Intelligence Service [official website] and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police [official website] handled the investigation of the attack. CBC News has more. The Law Courts Education Society of British Columbia has established a website for the Air India trial.

2:23 PM ET - The court's reasons for judgment [text] is now available.

[JURIST] Lakeland, Florida's Second District Court of Appeal [official website] Wednesday refused to block the removal of Terri Schiavo's [JURIST Newsmaker archive] feeding tube, which is currently scheduled to be removed Friday afternoon. The court denied a request by Schiavo's parents to delay removal while they pursue further appeals and also denied a request for a new trial. In the court's opinion [PDF text] Judge Chris Altenbernd said "Not only has Mrs. Schiavo's case been given due process, but few, if any similar cases have ever been afforded this heightened level of process." Also Wednesday, the appeals court granted a motion [Order text, PDF] brought by the Florida Department of Children and Family Services expediting DCF's appeal of a circuit court's rejection of DCF's attempt to intervene [JURIST report] in the right-to-die case. However, the court denied DCF's request to stay or enjoin the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube. Meanwhile, Florida both houses of the Florida Legislature are scheduled to consider competing bills Thursday that would prevent Schiavo's husband from having the feeding tube removed. AP has more.

[JURIST] California Judge Alfred A. Delucchi Wednesday denied Scott Peterson's request for a new trial [defense motion, PDF; prosecution response, PDF] and upheld the jury recommendation [JURIST report] that Peterson be sentenced to death. Scott Peterson [CourtTV case backgrounder] was found guilty [JURIST report] of first-degree murder for the death of his wife, Laci Peterson, and second-degree murder for his unborn child, Conner. In denying the request for a new trial, Judge Delucchi called the murders "cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous." AP has more.

[JURIST] Russell G. Redenbaugh [official bio], the longest-serving member of the US Commission on Civil Rights [official website], resigned from the panel Tuesday, citing irresponsible spending in pursuit of partisan agendas and saying the commission should be shut down. Redenbaugh, an Independent appointed to the commission in 1990, said that commission members have resisted efforts to appoint an independent agent to manage commission funds and an independent auditor to review its operations. The Commission has not had a financial audit in 12 years and the US House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution [official website] is scheduled to hold a hearing Thursday to review the commission's finances. Late last year, President Bush named new conservative appointees to the commission [JURIST report], including Gerald Reynolds who replaced the liberal Mary Frances Barry as chair. In his resignation letter, Redenbaugh wrote that he "endured excessive partisanship" under the former liberal leadership and that he "railed against slanted reports and exposed the commission's unaccountability to the taxpayer. I remained on the commission often in dissent, but always committed to reform." Redenbaugh also wrote that "Unfortunately, chronic mismanagement and a fatally flawed organizational structure eliminates the commission's institutional capacity to even participate in" discussions on reform. Redenbaugh said that the commission once acted as "the nation's conscience," but "is now a national embarrassment beyond repair." Wednesday's Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] Reuters is reporting that President Bush will pick Federal Communications Commission [official website] member Kevin Martin [official profile] to serve as the new head of the agency. Current Chairman Michael Powell resigned in January [JURIST report] and plans to leave the agency this week. An official announcement by the White House is expected later Wednesday. Reuters has more.

4:20 PM ET - As expected, the White House officially announced Martin's appointment [press release] Wednesday afternoon. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that the US House has approved an $81.4 billion emergency spending package for combat and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[JURIST] Army 1st Lt. Jack Saville was sentenced to 45 days in a military prison Tuesday for his role in forcing three Iraqi civilians into the Tigris River. Saville's court-martial began earlier in the day [JURIST report] after Saville pleaded guilty to assault and other charges for forcing two Iraqi civilians detained for curfew violations into the Tigris River at gunpoint. One of the civilians allegedly drowned. Saville was also convicted of a lesser assault charge for not acting to stop another civilian from being forced into the river during an earlier incident. In addition to the prison sentence, Saville was ordered to forfeit $2,000 of his $2,970 monthly salary for six months. AP has more.

[JURIST] The European Union [official website] is expected to announce later Wednesday that it has postponed discussion scheduled for Thursday over the entry of Croatia [government website] into the Europe-wide regional organization. Entry talks were scheduled for March 17, but 21 of the 25 EU nations have expressed a desire to see the talks postponed in light of Croatia's perceived failure to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website], as required by the EU for entry talks to begin. The main dispute over Croatia's cooperation centers around the failure of the national government to produce former Croatian general Ante Gotovina [Wikepedia profile] for trial at the ICTY in The Hague. Gotovina was indicted [official ICTY text] on charges of killing 150 Serbs and forcibly expelling over 150,000 others during the reoccupation of Croat territory from Serb forces. The EU asserts that Croatia has the ability to arrest and produce Gotovina and is intentionally delaying that event. Croation Prime Minister Ivo Sanader [official profile] denied the assertion [official Croatian press release] Tuesday, and announced his belief that talks would continue as scheduled. AP has more.

[JURIST] An ongoing diplomatic dispute between Japan [government website] and South Korea [government website] was taken to another level of intensity Wednesday, after a local Japanese prefecture approved a largely symbolic resolution calling for the creation of "Takeshima Day" to "celebrate Tokyo's claim of sovereignty" over the Dokdo volcanic islets [South Korea Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries factsheet], named in Japanese Takeshima [pro-Japanese claim website]. Japan's national government said that the vote by the Shimane Prefectural Assembly was outside the control of government officials and would have no influence on Tokyo policy towards the islets. The chunks of volcanic rock are the center of a long-standing dispute between the two nations, as both claim historical sovereignty over the territiory. The waters surrounding the islets are unusually rich fishing grounds. South Korea has held titular claim to the territory since it established a police detachment on the otherwise uninhabited land. South Korea has demanded that the Shimane prefecture [official website] withdraw the resolution and warned that any consequences would be the fault of Japan. The dispute takes place against a background of strained relations between the two countries, the legacy of Japan's occupation of Korea between the end of the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 and the surrender of Japan in 1945 at the end of World War II. A late report from South Korea Wednesday said that the country's ruling and opposition parties have agreed to convene a 30-day extra session of the National Assembly from April 6 to deal with the Dokto issue, and "Japan's attempts to distort history and harm Korea's territorial integrity." View South Korea's website on the Dokdo issue [official website]. Read the South Korea official press release responding to the Japanese vote. South Korea's Chosun Ilbo has local coverage.

[JURIST] Senate minority leader Harry Reid [official website] warned Tuesday that Democrats would block all Senate business - short of military, national security and critical government services measures - if Republicans continued to push for a change in confirmation procedures to disallow filibusters to block judicial nominations. The warning came in a stiffly-worded letter [text] to Republican majority leader Senator Bill Frist, which called such a move "an unprecedented abuse of power." Watch recorded video of a subsequent speech by Reid on the Capitol steps. Judicial nominations have traditionally been exempt from filibuster limitations, and Republicans are advocating a return to the policy of having a straight 'yes' or 'no' vote on nominees that was used for the 200 years prior to the Democrats' modern change to the process. Under current Senate rules judicial nomination filibusters can only be overridden by 60 votes; the Republican plan would reduce that margin to a simple majority of 51 (the GOP currently holds 55 Senate seats). Senate Democrats and Republicans are in the midst of locking horns over a series of controversial nominees re-presented to the Senate [JURIST report] by President Bush earlier this year after their nominations were stalled by Democrats last fall. View the Senate Judiciary Committee's list of judicial nominations. JURIST provides a news archive on judicial nominations. AP has more.

[JURIST] The rebuilding process in Iraq could turn into the largest example of corruption and bribery in the modern world according to the annual Global Corruption Report [official text download website] issued Wednesday by Transparency International [advocacy website]. TI warned that greater scrutiny of incoming funds and donations was necessary to ensure that all appropriations of financial resources were valid. It also criticized the US for pushing for privitization of the rebuilding phase, warning that too rapid of a transition to private contractors raised significant bribery and corruption risks. Read Transparency International's official press release. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Surrounded by heavy security, the 275 Iraqis elected in January [JURIST Hot Topic news archive] to the nation's first independent parliament in 50 years were sworn in Wednesday, even as several bombs were detonated in the area, attempting to disrupt the proceedings. Iraqi Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer [CBC profile] gave a brief speech to the gathered members, urging them to work together to ensure the future of a free and independent Iraq [interim government website]. The members were then sworn in by Iraqi Chief Justice Medhat al Mahmoud [2004 authored conference paper on the Judicial System in Iraq; DOC] and departed the building. The first official meeting of the parliament scheduled for later in the day met successfully, but was mainly symbolic, as the various factions elected have yet to agree to a power-sharing structure for the new government. The principal task of the new parliamentarians is to draft a permanant constitution for Iraq to replace the current Transitional Administrative Law [CPA text]. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Iraq [JURIST Country news archive]. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] According to a report in Wednesday's New York Times, military officials have said that at least 26 prisoner deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan have been concluded to be or are suspected of being the result of acts of criminal homicide. The number is much higher than indicated in a Pentagon report to Congress last week that cited only six prisoner deaths caused by abuse. Of the 26 suspicious deaths, 18 cases have been concluded and recommended for prosecution, with eight under investigation as confirmed or suspected homicides. An Army spokesman told the New York Times that "detainee abuse is not tolerated, and the Army will hold soldiers accountable. We are taking action to prosecute those suspected of abuse while taking steps now to train soldiers how to avoid such situations in the future." AFP has more. JURIST's Paper Chase has ongoing coverage of allegations of abuse by US forces.

In a related story, a new UK government report has revealed that British intelligence officials warned the US about possible detainee abuse in 2002 after the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) [BBC profile] was given access to US-held detainees in Afghanistan. Reacting to reports of coercive interrogations, MI6 released a memo then which said that the UK's stated commitment to human rights makes it important that the Americans understand that we cannot be party to such ill treatment nor can we be seen to condone it. In no case should [detainees] be coerced during or in conjunction with an [MI6] interview of them." MI6 leadership also suggested that the abuses should be drawn to the attention of senior local US officials. MI6 told its personnel: "As a representative of a U.K. public authority, you are obliged to act in accordance with the Human Rights Act 2000 which prohibits torture, or inhumane or degrading treatment. ... [Y]our actions incur criminal liability in the same way as if you were carrying out those acts in the U.K." The MI6 memo was cited last week in a report from the British government's Intelligence and Security Committee [official website]. The report, The Handling of Detainees by UK Intelligence Personnel in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and Iraq [PDF text; committee press release] concluded that British intelligence did not brief ministers about reports of abuse until 2004, after allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison were made public. UPI has more.

3:54 PM ET - At least 108 people have died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to government data as reported by AP. That figure includes the 26 deaths being investigated as possibly resulting from US abuse, as well as deaths attributed to natural causes. Responding to the new numbers, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said "Despite the military's own reports of deaths and abuses of detainees in U.S. custody, it is astonishing that our government can still pretend that what is happening is the work of a few rogue soldiers. No one at the highest levels of our government has yet been held accountable for the torture and abuse, and that is unacceptable." A Defense Department spokesperson has said that each death merits an investigation but that there is not a single military policy at fault for the deaths and that military investigations have not revealed any policies that condone abuse. Spokesperson Lt. Col. John Skinner said that "The military has dramatically improved detention operations, everything from increased oversight and improved facilities to expanded training and the availability of state-of-the-art medical care." AP has more.

[JURIST] Riggs Bank [official website], Citigroup [official website], Bank of America [official website] and six other banks helped former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile] create a secret network of accounts to hide assets from US examiners and international prosecutors, according to a report released Tuesday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) [official website]. The new report concludes that Riggs' relationship with Pinochet was far more extensive than previously believed. A July 2004 PSI report [PDF text] revealed that Riggs managers worked with Pinochet from 1994 to 2002 to set up phony offshore companies to hide assets. However, after additional investigation, PSI reports that Riggs' relationship with Pinochet began in 1979 and included 28 accounts and certificates of deposit at the bank. In January, Riggs pleaded guilty to money laundering charges [JURIST report] and last month agreed to compensate victims [JURIST report] of Pinochet's regime. The new PSI report also implicates several other US banks as enabling Pinochet to hide $13 million from investigators. Citigroup reportedly opened 63 accounts and CDs for Pinochet. Citigroup has said that Pinochet opened the accounts "with false documentation using pseudonyms" and that the Pinochet accounts were shut down nearly 10 years ago. AP has more.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, March 16.

The US Senate [official website] opens its session at 9 AM ET today, when it will consider S. Con. Res. 18 [bill summary], the FY 2006 budget resolution. Watch a live webcast of the session. In committees, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee [official website] will hold a 2:30 PM ET hearing on the EU's lifting of the arms embargo on China. View the hearing agenda, and watch a live webcast of the hearing. The Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] will hold a hearing on obscenity prosecutions and the Constitution at 3 PM ET. View the hearing agenda, and watch a live webcast of proceedings.

The US House [official website] opens its session at 10 AM ET today, with a live webcast of proceedings available. In committees, the House Judiciary Committee is holding two hearings today. At 10 AM ET, the full committee will mark up S. 256 [bill summary], the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, and H. Res. 136 [bill summary]. At 2 PM ET, the Constitution Subcommittee will hold a hearing on H.R. 1151 [bill summary], which would extend federal habeas protection to incapacitated individuals whose life may be threatened. View the hearing agenda, and watch a live webcast of proceedings. The House Energy and Commerce Committee [official website] Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hold a hearing on GAO review of FCC management and oversight at 2 PM ET. Watch a live webcast of the hearing. The House International Relations Committee [official website] Africa, Global Human Rights and International operations Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Northern Ireland human rights at 2 PM ET. View the hearing agenda, and watch a live webcast of the hearing. The House Small Business Committee [official website] will hold a 2 PM ET hearing on the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act. Watch a live webcast of the hearing.

WV Sen. Robert Byrd [official website] will address MoveOn members about his opposition to proposed Senate rules changes that would prevent Democrats from filibustering President Bush's judicial nominations. Watch a live webcast of the address beginning at 12 Noon ET via C-SPAN 3.

The International Conference on Nuclear Security opens today at 10 AM ET and runs through Friday. View the conference agenda [PDF].

The 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights [official website] continues in Geneva today.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the trial of Slobodan Milosevic [ICTY case backgrounder] continues today at 9:30 AM local time [3:30 AM ET]. Also today, the trial of Fatmir Limaj and others [ICTY case backgrounder] continues at 2:45 PM local time [8:45 AM ET]. A webcast is available for both.