[JURIST] Citing lack of jursidiction, the Florida Supreme Court has rejected what is likely to be the last appeal from Terri Schiavo's parents in their efforts to have their daughter's feeding tube re-inserted. The ruling effectively upholds Judge George Greer's order from earlier this afternoon denying relief [JURIST report]. Read the Florida Supreme Court order [PDF], and review other Florida Supreme Court documents from the Schiavo case.

[JURIST] Court officials in Egypt have announced that opposition presidential candidate Ayman Nour will stand trial on charges of forgery in June. Prosecutors allege that Nour and six members of his Al Ghad Party forged nearly 1,500 signatures [JURIST report] to meet the number required to register his political party. In a suprising move ealier this month, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered a change in the country's election laws [JURIST report] that allows multiple candidates to run in presidential elections. Nour, currently out on bail, maintains his innocence and says he will continue to pursue the presidency. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Navy announced Friday that a sailor who refused to report for duty in the Persian Gulf because of his opposition to the war in Iraq will face a special court-martial. Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes faces criminal charges of absence without leave and missing the movement of a ship. Paredes was scheduled to depart for the Persian Gulf on the USS Bonhomme Richard on December 6. Paredes' attorney says the sailor has applied for contentious objector status [Department of Defense report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Florida Pinellas County circuit judge George Greer has denied the latest and perhaps last motion by the parents of Terri Schiavo to have their daughter's feeding tube re-inserted. Their motion late Friday [JURIST report] had been supported by an affidavit by one their lawyers claiming that Schiavo had tried to talk and tell her that she wanted to live.

1:43 PM ET - Read Judge Greer's order [PDF]. AP has more. The Schindlers said in a press release early Saturday afternoon that they would file an appeal in the Florida Supreme Court.

[JURIST] The Miami Herald reported Saturday that state agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement [official website] were actually en route to Terri Schiavo's hospice Thursday to take custody of her and transfer her to a facility where her feeding tube might be reconnected, but turned back after local Pinellas County police [official website] insisted that they would enforce a Florida state judge's order that she not be moved. Sources told the Herald that the agents did not want to get into what would have been a public showdown of two police forces outside the hospice building. State officials, however, denied that they directed any action and a Bush spokesman said state agents were merely following the law and the judge's order. The sequence of events, which the Herald said was confirmed by three different sources, began early Thursday morning after the Florida Department of Children and Families filed an appeal against an injunction issued Wednesday evening to prevent it from taking Terri Schiavo into protective custody [JURIST report]. This created an automatic stay of the order {JURIST report] pending a hearing of the appeal, scheduled for after 11 Thursday morning, although that does not seem to have been immediately realized by state authorities. When state officials eventually seized their opportunity, they ran into local police resistence and a renewed injunction after 11:15. The avoidance of a standoff between state and local officers averted a profound constitutional crisis setting executive and judicial powers directly against each other. The Miami Herald has more [registration required]. Knight Ridder provides additional coverage.

[JURIST] Hundreds of thousands of protestors gathered Saturday in a massive rally and march through the streets of Taiwan's capital Taipei to voice their opposition to China's anti-secession law [text] authorizing the potential use of force against Taiwan in order to achieve Chinese re-unification. Taiwan president President Chen Shui-bian [official website] and many members of his Democratic Progressive Party [Wikipedia entry] took part in the march. Taiwan, the seat of the Chinese nationalist government deposed by Mao Tse-Tung's Communists in 1948 has enjoyed virtual independence over the past 50 years largely because the US has indicated that it would likely defend the island against a Chinese attack. Washington has criticized the passage of the anti-secession law and has urged the two rivals to open lines of communication that have been closed since 1999. From Taiwan, the China Post has local coverage. China has said that the protests "threaten cross-strait relations" [China Daily report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Army documents released Friday suggest that abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US military forces was more widespread than previously revealed. An Army investigative report from January 2004 reviewing events in 2003 concluded that at a detention facility near Mosul run by the 311th Military Intelligence Battalion [battalion history] of the Army's 101st Airborne Division guards were "engaged in physical torture of the detainees." The records were released to reporters and the American Civil Liberties Union [official website] after the group filed a Freedom of Information Act [text] lawsuit. The report did not contain details about which acts constituted torture and did not specify individuals involved. No individuals were punished according to the investigating officer. Read the ACLU press release and review the Army documents. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for groups seeking to overturn California's new domestic partnership law [text; Lamda Legal factsheet] argued their case in a state court Friday. The law went into effect January 1 and gives gay couples who register as domestic partners nearly every spousal right granted under state law including automatic parental status and responsibility for each others debts. Opponents claim the statute violates Proposition 22 [text], a California state initiative that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Attorneys for the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund [official website] told the 3rd District Court of Appeals [official website] that Proposition 22 implicitly bars lawmakers from granting marriage-like benefits to domestic partners. The court did not indicate when it would rule on the matter. AP has more.

[JURIST] NBC is reporting that in the face of last night's US Eleventh Circuit rejection [JURIST report] of their latest appeal of a lower court ruling refusing an injunction that would authorize re-insertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, lawyers for parents Bob and Mary Schindler have decided to abandon any further appeals in the federal courts. Schindler attorney David Gibbs was quoted Saturday morning as saying: "The Federal Courts have ruled that the law passed by Congress is a nullity. There are no claims that could be brought forward for Terri, with how the courts have construed the law." Gibbs did say, however, that an appeal would be pursued in Florida state courts if and when Pinellas County circuit judge George Greer ruled against the Schindlers in their latest state court action. Greer is expect to issue his latest decision in the case by Noon today. MSNBC has more.