[JURIST] In a major setback for the country's political opposition, Pakistan's Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed petitions contending that the dual role of General Pervez Musharraf [official website] as Pakistan president and army chief of staff is contrary to the provisions of the Pakistan constitution [text]. The judgment is considered a show of support for Musharraf, who in 2004 went back on his earlier promise to resign from his military role. The Press Trust of India has more. JURIST's Paper Chase has background.

[JURIST] The US House Ways and Means Committee [official website] approved a massive energy bill Wednesday. The Enhanced Energy Infrastructure and Technology Tax Act of 2005 [text and background materials] includes industrial tax breaks, extends the use of ethanol for farmers, and gives authorization for oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge. The House has supported opening drilling operations in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) [official website] - a provision that is all but certain to be rejected by the Senate. Democrats criticized the bill for not promoting renewable energy sources. The bill is set to go to the full House next week. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives voted 272-162 [roll call vote] late Wednesday to permanently repeal federal estate taxes in 2010 and beyond. The federal government is estimated to lose $290 billion in tax revenue over a decade if the bill, HR 8 succeeds in the Senate. Many Democrats see the ban as favoring the wealthy while making the federal deficit even worse. Republican backers of the bill said the elimination of the estate tax would end discrimination against certain families. Similar bills have been passed by the House, but have languished in the Senate. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Senate Foreign Relations Committee [official website] confirmation vote on the nomination of John Bolton [official profile] as US ambassador to the UN was delayed Wednesday after Democrats asked for more time to question State Department officials who have worked with Bolton. During a nomination hearing earlier this week, former State Department intelligence chief Carl Ford Jr. testified that Bolton was a "serial abuser" of lower-level officials who challenged his views. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that Bolton is an effective diplomat and has called for prompt Senate action on his nomination. Foreign Relations Committee Democrats are hoping to persuade moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee to vote against the nomination, tying the committee's vote and blocking a recommendation to the Senate to approve Bolton as the new UN ambassador. AP has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Bolton UN nomination expected to pass in committee
• UPDATE ~ Confirmation hearings begin for Bush UN nominee
• Bolton faces Senate confirmation hearing for UN appointment
• Ex-diplomats urge Senate to reject Bolton for UN
• Bolton could face rocky confirmation road to UN post
• BREAKING NEWS ~ Bush to name anti-ICC hardliner Bolton as UN ambassador

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] rejected a challenge to Louisiana's anti-abortion license plates, saying that federal courts lack jurisdiction in the dispute because the case amounts to a tax dispute that belongs in state court. Abortion rights groups challenged Louisiana's "Choose Life" plate, which are available for an extra fee with the revenue dedicated to agencies that help pregnant women with adoption, as discriminatory because the state does not offer those with other political views a similar way to express them. In its opinion [PDF text], the Fifth Circuit reversed a lower court ruling that outlawed the anti-abortion plates and Louisiana's entire system for approving and issuing specialty license plates. The Court wrote "The program diverts excess charges over handling and ordinary registration fees for the plates to organizations endorsed by the legislature. Because of this feature of the program, we conclude that we lack jurisdiction over the case because of the Tax Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1341 [text]." Abortion rights lawyer William Rittenberg said that the court is "ducking the issue of whether or not it's viewpoint discrimination and giving the state a device to discriminate." Rittenberg has not decided whether to appeal the decision. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Commission on Human Rights [official website] has called on the international community to take action against the defamation of religions, especially the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities after the September 11th attacks. In a resolution [Commission press release] adopted Tuesday by a 31-16 vote, with five abstentions, the Commission expressed deep concern that Islam was frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism and asked the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance [official website] to present a report on the situation of Muslims and Arab peoples in various parts of the world and the discrimination faced by them. The resolution also calls on the international community to initiate a dialogue to promote a culture of tolerance and peace based on respect for human rights and religious diversity. The UN News Service has more.

[JURIST] Stephen Johnson [EPA profile], President Bush's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency [official website], received approval from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee [official website] Wednesday. The committee's 17-1 vote in favor of Johnson's nomination sends the nomination to the full Senate for consideration. Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., the lone dissenter in Wednesday's vote, has said that he is contemplating trying to block a Senate vote on Johnson's nomination. After facing a contentious first nomination hearing [JURIST report], Johnson has been working to alleviate concerns over the administration's environmental policies. Last week, Johnson cancelled [JURIST report] the CHEERS [EPA study website] program, which involved examining the effects of pesticides on children. Carper voted against Johnson's nomination [Carper press release] and is considering blocking the nomination on the Senate floor in protest over the administration's refusal to conduct studies on how to cut pollution from power plants. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) [union website], the largest US grocery union, has filed a complaint against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. [corporate website] with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) [official website] to determine whether the company bribed employees to block union activities. The complaint follows a Wall Street Journal report [subscription req'd] that former Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Tom Coughlin may have used undocumented expense payments to fund anti-union activities. The union wants the NLRB to subpoena documents related to the alleged charges. Read the UFCW press release and more about its fight against Wal-Mart. Reuters has more.

In other news...

• The Wall Street Journal is reporting [subscription req'd] General Motors Corp. (GM) [corporate website] handling of two transactions with former subsidiary Delphi Corp. [corporate website] in 2000 and 2001 has raised questions about the auto company's accounting and disclosure practices. Delphi's accounting of these two transactions is already the subject of an investigation by the SEC into improper accounting at the company. Dow Jones has more.
  
  
• Russia's Federal Anti-Monopoly Service [official website in Russian] announced it will block Siemens AG's [corporate website] bid to acquire a controlling stake in Power Machines [corporate website], its top power engineering company. The deal was rejected because of the firm's role in the secretive defense sector. The deal would have given Siemens 73 percent of Power Machines' shares for between $200 million and $300 million in investments. AP has more.
  
  
• Axa Re, the reinsurance arm of French insurer Axa [corporate website], announced New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer [official website] and the SEC have subpoenaed the company over its transactions with MBIA [corporate website], the largest US municipal bond insurer. The subpoenas are part of the expanding probe into MBIA and marks Spitzer's latest move his investigation into the US insurance industry. The Axa probe relates to the 1998 $1 billion-plus bankruptcy of Pennsylvania non-profit hospital group Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation (AHERF). Axa Re will fully cooperate in the probe. Reuters has more.
  
  
• Following up on a story reported yesterday on JURIST's Paper Chase, US District Court Judge Karon Bowdre dismissed three perjury charges against former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy [Wikipedia profile] because the Justice Department and the SEC improperly merged their investigations of fraud at HealthSouth Corp [corporate website]. Judge Karon Bowdre said the two agencies violated the rights of Scrushy because the criminal investigation and the SEC investigation in Scrushy concerned aspects of accounting fraud at HealthSouth. Scrushy was indicted on a charge of lying to SEC investigator Neil Seiden during sworn testimony in March 2003. The Northern District of Alabama has additional information about the trial. AP has more.
  
  
• The Wall Street Journal is reporting [subscription req'd] the SEC [official website] will likely delay the implementation of new rules requiring employees' stock options to be counted against company profits. The new rules, set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board [official website], will drastically reduce reported earnings of large publicly traded companies. AP has more.
  
  
• In a ruling which could force a retrial, a three-judge panel on the Missouri Court of Appeals [official website] ruled a trial judge erred when he tossed out former Enterprise Rent-A-Car [corporate website] vice president Thomas Dunn's claim he was fired for refusing to follow the company's accounting practices. However, the panel also affirmed the trial court's decision to void a $4 million jury award given to Dunn for this claim that he was fired for questioning business practices at the firm. The panel felt Dunn had not offered enough evidence to support the claim. Read the Missouri Court of Appeals opinion. AP has more.
  
  
• American International Group Inc. (AIG) [corporate website] said in a SEC filing that Maurice "Hank" Greenberg [Wikipedia profile], who gave up his posts as chairman and chief executive amid intense regulatory scrutiny, gave a gift of 41.4 million company shares to his wife, Corinne P. Greenberg. The gift was given three days before Greenberg retired as CEO. Dow Jones has more.
  
  
• Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal [official website] will intervene in the state Department of Insurance [official website] approval proceedings of MetLife Inc.'s [corporate website] purchase [MetLife press release] of Travelers Life & Annuity [corporate website] from Citigroup Inc. saying the deal is not in the public interest. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski [official website] and a bipartisan group of state senators introduced legislation [Kulongoski press release] Wednesday that would recognize civil unions for same-sex couples and would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation. The text of Senate Bill 1000 is not yet available online, but Kulongoski says the bill would:

• Amend Oregon's existing non-discrimination laws to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, employment, public accommodation, education and public services statewide; and
  
  
• Amend ORS chapter 106 to create civil unions, defined as a civil contract entered into by two members of the same sex who are at least 17 years of age and are not first cousins or nearer of kin, and are not parties to a marriage or another civil union. While a civil union is not a marriage, it would impose the legal protections, rights and responsibilities generally afforded to opposite sex couples through marriage.

[JURIST] A British court Wednesday convicted suspected al Qaeda operative Kamel Bourgass of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance by the use of poisons and/or explosives to cause disruption, fear or injury in a plot to spread ricin [BBC News backgrouder] and other poisons in Britain. British authorities suspect that Bourgass' work was part of a larger plan to coordinate chemical and biological attacks across Europe. Bourgass, who is already serving a life sentence for the murder of a British constable during a 2003 raid on his London flat, was not convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Four other men implicated in the plot were cleared of conspiracy charges last week and charges have been dropped against another group of men, scheduled to face trial next week. The Metropolitan Police provides details of the evidence against Bourgass [MPS press release]. BBC News has more.

5:00 PM ET - Justice Penry-Davey, the judge who presided over Bourgass' trial, criticized former home secretary David Blunkett Wednesday for an inappropriate remark Blunkett made during a BBC interview. In 2002, Blunkett told the BBC that terrorists were planning to set up a cell which threatened the UK. In pre-trial motions, Bourgass' defense lawyer argued that the remark jeopardized the trial, and although the judge refused to abort the trial, he said the comment "was clearly in breach of the presumption of innocence." According to Bourgass' lawyer, the government leaked a story about a threatened sarin gas attack, which it knew to be false. Officials then responded to journalists' questions about the threatened attack by telling them that three people, including Bourgass, had been charged under the Terrorism Act, in order to give the impression that they were charged in relation to the sarin plot. The UK Press Association has more.

[JURIST] Eric Rudolph [Wikipedia profile], who last week agreed to plead guilty [JURIST report] to the Atlanta Olympic bombings, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the 1998 Birmingham abortion clinic bombing [indictment, PDF], which killed two people and left over 100 wounded. Under the plea agreement, Rudolph will receive four consecutive life prison terms, but will not face the death penalty. Following Wednesday's hearing in Alabama, Rudolph was flown to Atlanta where he will plead guilty to charges [indictment, PDF] stemming from three other bombings, including one during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. AP has more. The Birmingham News has local coverage.

4:10 PM ET - AP is reporting that Rudolph has now pleaded guilty to the 1996 Olympics bombing and two other Atlanta-area bombings.

[JURIST] Senator Arlen Specter [official website], chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website], has criticized Justice Department and FBI officials for failing to provide the committee details about their demands for records and their use of roving wiretaps and secret search warrants authorized under the USA PATRIOT Act [PDF text]. The Judiciary Committee held a closed-door briefing Tuesday on whether the antiterrorism law should be renewed, during which the Justice Department was supposed to provide specifics on its use of the Patriot Act to elaborate on the declassified data released last week [JURIST report]. Following the hearing, Specter said that in light of concerns about whether the law has impinged on due process and civil rights, Congress needs to understand "exactly what [the DOJ is] doing and where the justification is." The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for six Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday asking a judge to force the Department of Justice and Department of Defense to comply with their Freedom of Information Act [text] requests for documents, including medical and psychiatric records, on its treatment of the detainees. The six men, all Algerian, were arrested in Bosnia in 2001 for allegedly conspiring to blow up the US embassy in Sarajevo and were later transferred to Guantanamo Bay after Bosnian courts dismissed the charges against them. Wednesday's complaint includes allegations by one of the detainees, Mustafa Ait Idir, that he was tortured during his Gitmo detention [Boston Globe report] on multiple occasions, including an incident where guards held his face under water in his cell's hole-in-floor toilet and another incident where guards jumped on his head. Idir alleges that as a result of the torture he suffered a stroke that left his face partially paralyzed. Idir's attorney, former Massachusetts Deputy Attorney General Stephen Oleskey [professional profile] says that the lawsuit is necessary because "We've been asking for this information since September. It bears on their conditions of confinement and their mental and physical well-being. The government has made no effort to give it to us despite the fact that federal law requires it be promptly provided, and thus we have no alternative but to go to court." A Defense Department spokesman declined to address the specifics of the case, but noted that "US policy condemns and prohibits torture" and said that Al Qaeda "emphasizes the tactic of making false abuse allegations" if captured. AP has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that the UN General Assembly has approved the text of a draft global treaty designed to prevent nuclear terrorism.

11:35 AM ET - The approval of the text comes at the end of a seven-year negotiating process characterized by tensions between nuclear and non-nuclear powers. Under the draft, states are obliged to criminalize certains acts relating to nuclear terrorism and impose sanctions against offenders. Many such acts are already covered under the laws of UN member states. Read the full text of the draft nuclear terrorism convention [PDF]. The draft will be open for signature in September and will go into force after 22 ratifications. Reuters now has a full story. Nicolas Michel, UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, gave a press briefing on the draft convention in New York Tuesday.

[JURIST] The US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] ruled in favor of the State of Florida [official website] Tuesday in allowing the state to continue to require released convicted felons to apply to a state agency for restoration of their voting rights. Florida is one of 14 states which have laws allowing convicted felons to be denied voting rights for life. Jessie Allen, counsel for the individuals challenging the scheme, says that Florida is in violation of the US Voting Rights Act [official text] and that Florida's system disproportionately disenfranchises black citizens. Florida currently bans 600,000 individuals from voting based on a felony conviction, 167,000 of those individuals are African-American. Allen said that he will appeal the case to the US Supreme Court. Read the Eleventh Circuit opinion [PDF text]. AP has more.

[JURIST] In an unexplained decision, the Supreme Court of California [official website] late Tuesday blocked the release of files concerning some 117 priests from the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles [official website] alleged to have committed sexual abuse. The Archdiocese had been prepared to release the files as early as December as part of a mediation agreement between the Archdiocese and attorneys for the alleged victims. The documents and files detail when the Church first learned of allegations of abuse, what action they took, and even the identity of some accused priests whose names have not yet been released. Attorney Donald Steier filed for and received a temporary stay for his clients, 26 accused priests who allege that the mediation agreements must remain confidential under California law. The 2nd District Court of Appeals for California [official website] refused to make the stay permanent however, and it was due to expire at 5 PM local time Tuesday evening. The California Supreme Court ordered a block on the release of the documents at 4:45 PM. AP has more. The Los Angeles Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] The French Parliament has adopted a bill which will allow patients to decide to discontinue medical treatment, even if that decision will ultimately lead to their death. The bill [text and materials in French], passed Tuesday night by the Senate [government website in French] and already approved by the National Assembly [government website], also allows families to remove "non-responsive" relatives from life support machinery and permits doctors to prescribe increasing doses of pain medication to terminally ill patients, even if the dosages become lethal, so long as they are necessary to legitimately curb the pain of the patient. The law will not permit physicians to actively end a patient's life, however, and maintains France's current ban on euthenasia. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Ukranian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko [official profile] cancelled her scheduled weekend visit to Russia [government website in Russian] Wednesday, following statements by Russian Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov [MosNews profile] that Russia would not withdraw an international arrest warrant out against Tymoshenko. Russian prosecutors have charged Tymoshenko with criminal bribery of Russian Defense officials in her previous position as head of United Energy Systems of Ukraine. Tymoshenko met with Russian President Vladimir Putin [official profile] last month, at which time he allegedly assured her that Russia would recognize her legitimate diplomatic status and would not proceed with prosecution against her while she was in office. Tymoshenko was one of the key figures in the "Orange Revolution" in the Ukraine [government website] earlier this year. It is unclear if Tymoshenko will reschedule her visit to Russia. MosNews has local coverage.

[JURIST] The United States submitted a draft resolution to the UN Commission on Human Rights [official website] Tuesday criticizing the human rights record of Cuba [government website]. The US annually submits a similar resolution as part of its efforts to keep up international pressure on the communist Latin American nation. The US also urged the renewal of Christine Chanet as special investigator on human rights for Cuba. Chanet released her 2004 report on Cuba's human rights situation [PDF] last month, criticizing Cuba for its continued incarceration of political prisoners, repression of free speech and assembly rights, and strict limitations on the press. UN Human Rights Commission resolutions carry no mandatory weight, but a negative sanction is a public reprimand that most nations seek to avoid. Last year's resolution condemning Cuba's human rights record only passed by two votes, with ten abstentions. AP has more.

[JURIST] The State Council of China [government website] released a 41-page report Wednesday claiming significant progress in the promotion and protection of human rights. The document reported over 1,500 investigations and prosecutions of government officials alleged to have violated human rights in the country in 2004. Read the ful text of the 2004 Human Rights Report [China Daily text]. The Chinese government report comes a day after international NGOs Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] and Human Rights in China [advocacy website] issued a joint report of their own alleging massive Chinese persecution of the predominantly Muslim Uighurs ethnic group under the cloak of state response to terrorism. The Uighurs are the largest ethnic minority in the Xinjiang region and have been advocating for autonomy and the right to create an independent state of East Turkestan. Read the HRW/HRIC joint report [official text]. Reuters has more. China Daily has local coverage.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that the European Parliament has approved the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the European Union in 2007.

8:32 AM ET - The European Parliament [official website] voted 497-93, with 71 abstentions, in favor of Romania's accession to the European Union [official website] and 522-70, with 69 abstentions, on Bulgaria's entry into the EU. The European Parliament has this press release on the vote and AP has background on the vote.

[JURIST] Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website; JURIST news archive] said Tuesday that he would not seek to amend the Russian constitution [English translation] so that he could run for a third consecutive term. Russia's constitution does not allow the president to serve more than two consecutive terms but does not bar the president from seeking a third term later, and Putin indicated that he might consider running again in the future. Putin's comments have not ended speculation that he will try and hold onto power after he leaves office. Some political analysts predict that Putin will serve as prime minister when his term ends in 2008, with the possibility that the constitution will be amended to make the presidency ceremonial. This would turn Russian into a parliamentary republic, leaving Putin, if he serves as prime minister, a substantial amount of power. AP has more. MosNews has local coverage.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, April 13.

The US Senate [official website] convenes at 9:30 AM ET today, when it will consider H.R. 1268 [bill summary], the Iraq/Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations bill. Watch a live webcast of the session. The Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] is holding a hearing at 9:30 AM ET today on securing electronic personal data. Watch a live webcast of the hearing. The Constitution Civil Rights and Property Rights Subcommittee is holding a hearing at 2 PM ET today on whether federal and state defense of marriage initiatives are vulnerable to judicial activism. Watch a live webcast of the hearing.

The US House [official website] convenes for legislative business at 10 AM ET today. Watch a live webcast of the session. The House Judiciary Committee [official website] will mark up H.R. 32, 748, 800, 866, and 1279 [bill summaries] at 10 AM ET today. Watch a live webcast of the meeting. The Committee is also holding a hearing at 4 PM ET today on immigration and alien gangs. Watch a live webcast of the hearing.

The European Parliament [official website] continues its plenary session at 9 AM local time [3 AM ET] today. View the agenda for the session. A vote on Bulgarian and Romanian accession is scheduled for Noon local time [6 AM ET]. Watch a live webcast of the session.

The UN General Assembly [official website] is holding its 91st plenary meeting at 10 AM ET today. Watch a live webcast of the meeting.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Ljubisa Beara [ICTY case backgrounder] will make a further appearance before the tribunal at 8 AM local time [2 AM ET] today. Following that, 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 today at 2:45 PM local time [8:45 AM ET]. Watch a webcast of proceedings.