[JURIST] In Wednesday's environmental law news, the US House of Representatives [official website] voted late Wednesday night to remove provisions from a budget bill that would have allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [official website] and offshore drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Twenty-five House Republicans had threatened to join Democrats to scuttle the budget bill if the drilling provisions were included, a move that effectively eliminated the 14-person House Republican voting majority. The vote is disheartening to proponents of the drilling, particularly since the provisions were included in the budget bill that passed through the Senate [JURIST report] last week. A vote on the House version of the budget bill is expected Thursday. AP has more.

[JURIST] Legislators on a US House and Senate conference committee for the USA Patriot Act and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005 [bill summary] are closing on a deal that would limit certain law enforcement powers under the Act in the process of making many of its provisions permanent. Under the tentative deal, still officially under wraps, judges would be granted authority to review and reject national security letters [PDF sample text; ACLU backgrounder] under which the government can gain access to individual's phone, Internet and financial records. After the USA Patriot Act [PDF text] was approved in 2001, the FBI issued about 30,000 such letters each year, which was a hundred-fold increase since the letters were first authorized in the 1970s. A federal judge struck down that portion of the Act [JURIST report] as unconstitutional last year, and several senators have expressed skepticism [JURIST report] over the tactic. The committee also has reportedly rejected a request by the Bush administration to give the FBI authority to obtain subpoenas for wiretaps without judicial approval. The Bush administration has maintained that the Act has not been abused since its passage in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire on Dec. 31 unless reauthorized, although the conference committee has not yet begun formal negotiations. AP has more.

[JURIST] US lawmakers Wednesday expressed some discomfort with a proposal by the Bush administration to increase the response role [JURIST report] of the US Department of Defense [official website] in disasters during a hearing of a House Armed Services Committee [official website] subcommittee. House members questioned whether such a plan would leave the military stretched too thin, and also noted that the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 [text; NORTHCOM factsheet] could stand in the way. Although there has been discussion among some legislators about reforming the Act [JURIST report] in the wake of Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive], others have expressed concern that reforms might infringe on local and state officials [2001 Congressional testimony on potential legal and other problems with federalizing the National Guard during state emergencies, PDF] better-suited to handle disasters. The Act prevents the US military from serving a law enforcement role on US soil absent certain exceptions. The Committee has transcripts from the hearing. Assistant Defense Secretary Paul McHale [official profile] told committee members that the Pentagon would serve a supporting role to the Department of Homeland Security's efforts, while National Guard head Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum [official profile] said that state governors would remain empowered in disaster sites. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Mold, Mildew, and the Military Role in Disaster Response | Video: The Military's Role in Disasters [Cato Institute]

[JURIST] Judith Miller [JURIST news archive], the New York Times reporter at the center of the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive], has left the newspaper after 28 years there, the Times announced Wednesday [NYT report, registration required]. Miller negotiated with the paper for several weeks about her departure after she was jailed for 85 days [JURIST report] this summer for failing to reveal her source to a federal grand jury investigating the leak case. She was released after agreeing to testify to a grand jury, although she later wrote she could not recall [JURIST report] who told her the name of CIA covert operative Valerie Plame. Miller was initially supported by the Times for her decision, although she later became an object of criticism [JURIST report] by the paper and others for her refusal to cooperate and for problematic reports she filed on Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons in the run-up to the war. Miller has defended her decision to withhold her source, and she said she was leaving the paper, in part, because others disagreed with her actions. In a memo to the staff [text], Executive Editor Bill Keller said Miller produced "great, prize-winning journalism" while with the paper. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: The Indictment of Scooter Libby: Bad News for Journalism | Op-ed: The Devil in the Details: The CIA Leak Case

[JURIST] Doctors directed to examine former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [BBC News profile; JURIST news archive] have declared him fit to stand trial for the first time on charges that he coordinated the killings of political opponents during the 1970s. According to a report prepared by the examining doctors and revealed by sources Wednesday, Pinochet appeared lucid and showed no signs of impaired memory, despite claims by his defense counsel that he suffers from dementia. Chile's high court stripped Pinochet of immunity in September, clearing the way for him to stand charges in the "Operation Colombo" [Wikipedia backgrounder] case if the former dictator's health permitted. The operation allegedly resulted in the deaths of 119 members of a leftist militant group that opposed Pinochet, and their bodies were sent to other Latin American countries. Pinochet was acquitted of charges [JURIST report] by the high court in connection with "Operation Condor" [Wikipedia backgrounder], a separate conspiracy among South American leaders to eliminate political opponents. Prosecutors are also pursuing embezzlement charges [JURIST report] against the fallen leader. Chile's La Nacion has local coverage [in Spanish]. AFP has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Pinochet may stand trial for killings, Chile high court rules
• Chile high court to hear Pinochet immunity appeal
• Chilean appeals court says Pinochet able to stand trial for killings
• Pinochet suffers stroke day before immunity hearing

[JURIST] The Pentagon has said it will not seek the death penalty against Omar Ahmed Khadr [CBC Khadr family profile], an 18-year-old Canadian citizen detained at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] who admitted throwing a grenade [JURIST report] that killed a US medic while fighting with the Taliban in 2002. The decision, announced Tuesday, has pleased the Canadian government, which had sought assurances that Khadr would not face execution, as he was only 15 when he allegedly committed the crime. The US Defense Department may have been additionally prompted by a US Supreme Court decision in March to strike down the death penalty for minors [JURIST report]. Some legal experts believe the decision applies to military commissions as well as federal and state courts. From Toronto, the Globe and Mail has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday heard arguments in US v. Georgia and Goodman v. Georgia [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], a consolidated case in which it will decide whether states can be sued by disabled inmates under the Americans with Disabilities Act [text; DOJ website] for failing to accomodate them. In the case, the Court heard the appeal of Tony Goodman, a disabled Georgia inmate who charged the state with leaving him for 23 hours a day in a cell so narrow that he could not turn his wheelchair around. In May 2004 the Court ruled 5-4 in Tennessee v. Lane [PDF text; JURIST report], that states could be sued for failing to provide disabled persons access to courts, with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor [Oyez profile] casting the deciding vote. If O'Connor is replaced prior to a decision in this case, the Court could face the issue again next year if it splits on the present issue. AP has more.

[JURIST] Egyptian judges have raised questions about the accuracy of the final results in September's presidential election, although they said that any irregularities did not affect the outcome of the race. An informal association of judges in Egypt [JURIST news archive] released a report Tuesday in which they acknowledged being unable to completely supervise the election as legally required. The report said that delegates for some candidates were blocked from some polling stations and that voting restrictions were relaxed at some polling stations when large groups of people arrived in state vehicles. The report concluded that the alleged violations would not have changed the outcome of the country's first contested presidential election, in which incumbent President Hosni Mubarak [official profile; BBC News profile] won with 89 percent of the vote. The report is in line with reports from monitoring groups [JURIST report] that tracked violations but said they would not have changed the results. Also Wednesday, the Muslim Brotherhood [Wikipedia backgrounder] said that it was withdrawing some candidates for parliamentary elections that began Wednesday in order to create a broader opposition coalition. Mubarak's National Democratic Party [official website, English version] is expected to dominate the elections, which continue into December. The Daily Star has more.

[JURIST] Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi [BBC News profile] on Wednesday said treason charges would be leveled against the leaders of violent protests that left 42 dead following a confrontation with police last week. Meles called the protests an "Orange Revolution gone wrong," in reference to protests in Ukraine [JURIST report] last year. The opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy party organized the demonstration last week to protest alleged government fraud in May elections in Ethiopia [JURIST news archive]. The government has denied the allegations, but the EU has said the election fell below international standards. Meles did not say who would be charged in connection with the protest, but the government on Monday took 24 people to court, including opposition leaders and journalists. Meles has been criticized by human rights groups for his handling of the demonstrations. Reuters has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• EU official: Ethiopian elections resulted in human rights violations
• Election abuses lead to revote in 20 Ethiopian districts
• Ethiopia ending ban on election protests
• Ethiopian PM promises fair election investigation
• Ethiopia releases 336 prisoners seized during elections unrest

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] has called for global cooperation in the arrest of five members of Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) [Global Security profile; BBC backgrounder], during a report [PDF text; ICC press release] Tuesday to the UN General Assembly. The ICC, which issued warrants [JURIST report] for LRA leader Joseph Kony [ICC arrest warrant, PDF] and his deputies for the killing of thousands of civilians and the enslavement of thousands more boys and girls, requested assistance from all nations since it has no police force of its own. Judge Phillippe Kirsch [official profile], Canadian president of the tribunal, said that with "sufficient cooperation in the arrest and surrender of persons, the first trials could begin next year." Last month, the Sudan government pledged its cooperation [JURIST report] in the ICC's efforts to apprehend the rebel leaders. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate [official website] on has rejected a proposal to create an independent commission patterned after the Sept. 11 Commission [official website] to investigate US treatment of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. With a 55-43 party-line vote, senators on Tuesday rejected the proposed amendment [PDF text] to S. 1042 [bill summary], the defense appropriations bill, put forth by Sen. Carl Levin [official website; floor remarks]. The commission envisioned by the amendment would have been charged with investigating whether torture was used at Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive] and other detention facilities used by the US in military operations following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The Senate last week overwhelmingly approved a bill [JURIST report] that would bar degrading and inhuman treatment of detainees. AFP has more.

[JURIST] I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [NYT profile], the indicted former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, has established a fund to help pay for his defense against criminal charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation [JURIST news archive] into the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame [JURIST news archive], lawyers and people contacted about the fund said Tuesday. Republican communications strategist Barbara Comstock [Media Matters profile] has compiled a list of potential donors, and associates of Libby have already contacted some of them. The existence of the fund raises legal and campaign finance questions since Libby's defense could be designed in part to protect the administration from allegations of misdeeds. Regulations requiring government employees to limit contributions to $5,000 per donor and to disclose donor identities do not apply to Libby since he resigned his position in the VP's office on October 28 immediately after his indictment [PDF text; JURIST report] on five felony counts of lying to investigators and misleading a grand jury. Wednesday's New York Times has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: The Devil in the Details: The CIA Leak Case | Op-ed: The Indictment of Scooter Libby: Bad News for Journalism

[JURIST] Syria has invited German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, head of a UN investigation [UN materials] into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive], to visit Damascus to discuss cooperation between UN investigators and the Syrian committee investigating Hariri's murder [JURIST report], Syrian state media reported Wednesday. Security officials from both Syria and Lebanon were implicated in Mehlis' interim report [text], released last month, and the UN Security Council subsequently passed a resolution [text] calling for Syria's cooperation with the UN committee. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile] has assured him that Syria will cooperate with the UN probe [UN News report]. Syria is currently considering a UN request to interview six officials [JURIST report] in connection with the murder investigation. Reuters has more.

5:15 PM ET - Syria said Wednesday that it is questioning the six officials that UN investigators have asked to interview. Syria has imposed a travel ban on the officials, preventing them from going to Lebanon to meet with Mehlis and his team. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A classified Central Intelligence Agency [official website] report issued in 2004 questioned whether certain interrogation tactics approved by the agency for use against terrorism suspects would violate the UN Convention Against Torture [text], current and former intelligence officials have reported. The previously undisclosed report by CIA Inspector General John Helgerson [official profile] warned that procedures approved in 2002, while not constituting torture [JURIST news archive] under the UN Convention, could fall afoul of a lesser restriction that bars "cruel, inhuman or degrading" actions. Anonymous officials who spoke about the report said that it cited specific techniques used by the CIA against certain suspects, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC News profile], the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Mohammed has reportedly been subjected to waterboarding, a procedure in which a person is strapped to a board and made to feel as though he is drowning, since being captured in March 2003. The CIA has not publicly acknowledged the report, and it has maintained [CIA news release] that its approved interrogation techniques were lawful. President Bush said Monday that the US has not tortured [JURIST report] suspected terrorists. The US Senate has approved a proposed ban on torture and other inhuman treatment of prisoners [JURIST document] but the White House has threatened to veto the legislation [JURIST report; White House policy statement, PDF]. Vice President Cheney has also urged Senators to include an exemption for CIA officers [JURIST report], arguing that CIA agents should be allowed to employ "cruel, inhuman or degrading" interrogation tactics if the president decides such procedures are necessary to prevent an imminent terrorist attack. Wednesday's New York Times has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Perjury, Lies and Degrading Treatment: The Case for the McCain Amendment

[JURIST] The UN Security Council [official website] has unanimously adopted Resolution 1637 [text and summary], extending the mandate of the 180,000-strong multinational force in Iraq [official website] for another year. The US-led force was originally authorized [JURIST report] in May 2004 under UN Security Council Resolution 1546 [UN summary] and the mandate has since been renewed in six-month increments. The latest resolution, approved Tuesday, would instead authorize forces to remain in Iraq until December 31, 2006, with a review after eight months. The mandate could be terminated early, however, upon request from the Iraqi government. The US, which began circulating the draft resolution [JURIST report] last week, has called the unanimous approval a significant signal [Bolton statement] of international support for Iraq's transition to a democratic government. AP has more. The UN News Centre has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Defense lawyers in the trial of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] on Wednesday officially severed contact with the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website] in response to the Tuesday murder of defense team member Adil al-Zubeidi [BBC report; TIME interview]. Lead counsel Khalil al-Dulaimi described the second day of hearings scheduled for November 28 [JURIST report] as "cancelled and illegitimate" and renewed demands that the UN stop the proceedings and initiate an international investigation of the latest shooting. Al-Zubedidi's murder [JURIST report] came two weeks after the kidnapping and assassination [JURIST report] of defense team member Sadoon al Janabi, renewing fears that current political and security conditions in the county will impact the trial and prompting the defense team to again request [JURIST report] that the trial be moved abroad. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has agreed that the attacks undermine the legitimacy of the hearings and emphasized, through spokeswoman Marie Okable, the vital importance of assuring those involved in the trial of its safety. In response to the boycott, presiding judges could fine the lawyers, appoint "backup lawyers", or allow Hussein to represent himself as he had previously requested. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Australian government is pushing forward with controversial anti-terror proposals [JURIST report] despite criticism that arrests [JURIST report] made earlier this week during a counter-terrorism swoop [BBC report] indicate the legislation is unnecessary. Although Parliament hastily approved an amendment [JURIST report] last week at the urging of Prime Minister John Howard to allow for the prosecution of suspects without identifying a specific terrorist act, local Muslim leaders and rights groups say that the arrests of 17 suspects in Melbourne and Sydney were made under existing legislation. The broader government proposals, set to go up for debate for the first time [Sydney Morning Herald report] in Parliament in Canberra Thursday, include shoot-to-kill provisions [JURIST report] and terms for preventive detentions and control orders [JURIST report]. Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] Wednesday again defended the proposed legislation [Radio 2GB transcript] by stating that it does not target any individual group, and is maintaining his commitment to passing the laws before Christmas [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Rights at Risk: My Dissent from the Australian Anti-terror Bill [Jon Stanhope, ACT Chief Minister]

[JURIST] The BBC is reporting that the UK government of Prime Minister Tony Blair has lost a House of Commons vote [BBC debate summary] on a key provision of its proposed Terrorism Bill [text] that would have authorized detention of terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days.

12:25 PM ET - AP is reporting that MPs in the House of Commons have instead approved a compromise measure to allow detention of terror suspects for 28 days without charge.

12:30 PM ET - In what was Blair's first Commons defeat [BBC Q/A] since his Labour party came to power in 1997, MPs rejected the 90-day detention provision advanced by the government on the advice of the London Metropolitan Police [letter to the Home Office, PDF] by a vote of 322-291, despite Blair's usual 66-seat majority. Anticipating a tight vote, Blair had called two top ministers back to the UK [Reuters report] so that they could be present in the House. In rejecting the 90-day proposal Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and rebel members of the Labour party dismissed Blair's challenge that they had a "duty" to support the police, and instead backed a compromise detention period of 28 days. Under current law [Criminal Justice Act 2003, amending the Terrorism Act 2000], terror suspects can be held for 14 days before they must be either charged or released. The detention provision is part of a larger anti-terrorism bill proposed earlier this year in response to the July London bombings [JURIST news archive]; the bill as a whole is still expected to pass. The defeat of the provision in the House does not force an election or the dissolution of Parliament as this was not a money bill or a vote of confidence. BBC News has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• British government holds line on 90-day terror detentions
• Blair urges MPs to keep 90-day detention limit despite calls for compromise
• UK government wards off terror law amendment by one vote
• UK terror bill passes first Commons vote
• UK chief justice, PM clash over terror law interpretations
• UK government rethinking provisions of anti-terror proposal
• Blair spars with rights groups over tougher UK anti-terror laws

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: New Rules of the Game: The UK Terrorism Bill | Topic: United Kingdom

[JURIST] French police and Interior Ministry [official website, in French] officials said Wednesday that newly-authorized state of emergency powers [JURIST report] were helping to subdue violence in the 13th day of rioting around the country. The government on Tuesday issued a decree [PDF text] giving local officials permission to use emergency powers authorized by a 1955 law [amended text; original 1955 version - page 1 and page 2, PDFs], which had previously been used in French colonial conflicts but never in France itself. Under the law, local authorities can impose curfews, put individuals under house arrest, carry out raids without warrants, confiscate weapons and evacuate public spaces considered to be the focus of violence. Meanwhile, human rights groups have expressed concern over rushed trials for accused rioters [AP report], saying that fast-track trials for defendants who claim they are only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time will only add to the sense of injustice among those accused.

The riots began in poor immigrant suburbs outside of Paris, and commentators have suggested that the tension in the ghettos is related to larger racial and religious issues in France, including last year's banning of religious dress in schools [JURIST report]. Since the riots began in late October, over 1,500 arrests have been made and the French Justice Ministry [official website, in French] said Wednesday that 52 adults and 23 minors have received prison sentences [press release] or have been sent to detention centers. Paris prosecutors have also opened an investigation into two teenagers [AP report] who allegedly used their blogs to urge French youths to riot and revolt against police. A 16-year-old French teen and an 18-year-old from Ghana were detained earlier this week and are being investigated for inciting harm to people and property over the Internet. Formal charges have not yet been brought, but if either teen is convicted, the charge carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. The Guardian has more. Le Monde has local coverage (in French).

2:07 PM ET - French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy [official profile, in French] has ordered that all 120 foreigners so far convicted of taking part in the riots be immediately deported, even those who were not in France illegally. BBC News has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• France authorizes emergency powers to cope with riots
• French PM to impose curfews, deploy police forces to combat rioting
• Turkish PM connects French headscarf ban with rioting
• 253 arrested as French rioting spreads on ninth night

[JURIST] Callixte Kalimanzira, Rwanda's acting interior minister during the 1994 genocide [BBC backgrounder], has surrendered to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [official website], the court announced [press release] Tuesday. According to the tribunal, Kalimanzira is "charged with genocide, in the alternative complicity in genocide, and with direct and public incitement to commit genocide" for allegedly helping to coordinate the genocide. Specifically, the ICTR alleges that Kalimanzira made inflammatory speeches calling for the elimination of all Tutsis, distributed weapons to be used in the massacre, supervised the killings of thousands of Tutsis, and personally beat to death some Tutsis. IRIN has more.

[JURIST] The Bank of New York [corporate website] has agreed to pay $38 million in fines in order to avoid prosecution on fraud and money laundering charges, federal prosecutors announced [PDF press release] Tuesday. The federal investigation into the bank, the oldest in the US, began after the financial institution took part in a scheme involving $7 billion in illicit transfers from Russia in the late 1990s; a former bank executive and her husband have already pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. According to the agreement, the Bank of New York will pay $26 million to the government and $12 million to fraud victims and has also agreed to adopt sweeping reforms to address reporting failures under the Bank Secrecy Act and ensure compliance with anti-fraud and anti-money laundering safeguards. The reforms will be monitored by an independent examiner for three years, though bank officials say they have already implemented many of the required reforms [press release]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Nageh Ibrahim and Fouad el-Dawalibi, founding members of militant Egyptian Islamic movement al-Gamma al-Islamiyya [Wikipedia backgrounder], have been released after more than two decades in prison in connection with the killing of President Anwar Sadat [CNN profile] during a military parade in Cairo on Oct. 6, 1981. The men were convicted for their connections to Sadat's assassination and were sentenced in 1984, Ibrahim to 24 years and el-Dawalibi to 15 years, though Egyptian law allows people to be held after their sentences are completed. It is thought the men were freed due to a truce reached between al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya and the Egyptian government. Two primary al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya leaders, Assem Abdel Maged and Essam Derbala remain in prison in connection with Sadat's assassination, but a fifth convicted assassin, Tarek el-Zomor, was released from prison [JURIST report] earlier this year after serving more than his designated sentence of 22 years. AP has more.

[JURIST] In a victory for intelligent design advocates, the Kansas Board of Education on Tuesday approved by a vote of 6-4 revised science standards [BoE materials] that require students to understand not only evolution [BBC backgrounder], but also recent challenges to the theory, such as that suggesting that life is too complex to have evolved without help from a higher power. The board, currently dominated by religious conservatives, also rewrote the definition of science, to no longer limit it to natural explanations of phenomena. Kansas Citizens for Science [advocacy website] opposes the changes, arguing that they are a vehicle for teachers to bring creationist arguments into the classroom. John Calvert, a retired attorney and co-founder of the Intelligent Design Network [advocacy website], has countered that the alterations "are not targeted at changing the hearts and minds of the Darwin fundamentalists." This is the third time in six years that the Kansas board has rewritten standards concerned with evolution. In 1987, the US Supreme Court ruled in Edwards v. Aguillard [opinion text] that states may not mandate public schools to teach creationism in order to balance evolution lessons. In an August interview, however, President Bush endorsed [Knight Ridder report] teaching intelligent design [Wikipedia backgrounder] alongside evolution.

Pennsylvanians meanwhile await the result of the recently-ended trial [JURIST report] of a lawsuit [JURIST report; PDF complaint; ACLU case materials] over a local school board policy similar to that implemented by Kansas which requires high school students to learn about intelligent design in biology class. In elections Tuesday, voters in the Dover Area School District [official website] nonetheless expressed their disagreement with the school board [USA Today report] and ousted eight Republicans from the nine-member board and replaced them with Democrats who want intelligent design removed from the local science curriculum. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice is considering a request from the Central Intelligence Agency [official website] to open a criminal investigation into the leak of possibly classified information on the existence of secret CIA detention centers for suspected terrorists [JURIST report] to the Washington Post. There have also been calls for a congressional investigation [JURIST report] into the leaked information. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) sent a letter Tuesday to the Senate and House intelligence committees stating that "such an egregious disclosure could have long-term and far-reaching damaging and dangerous consequences, and will imperil our efforts to protect the American people and our homeland from terrorist attacks." In an interview Tuesday, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) [official website] did not dispute a suggestion that a Congressional probe would raise First Amendment press-freedom issues. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Frist, Hastert call for investigation into leak of CIA secret prison information
• EU to investigate reports of secret CIA prisons in Europe
• CIA reportedly holding al Qaeda terror suspects in covert prison system

[JURIST] California voters Tuesday rejected a hotly-contested initiative [JURIST report] that would have prevented lawmakers from drawing political voting districts [JURIST report; proposition summary and text, PDF]. The initiative was allowed on the ballot after an appeal to the California Supreme Court [JURIST report]; a lower court had said the measure could not be part of the November election [JURIST report] because petitions circulated to collect the necessary signatures for the initiative to appear on the ballot did not contain identical wording. California voters also turned down several other propositions, including proposals to require doctors to notify parents [proposition summary] that a teenage girl wanted an abortion and one that would have capped state spending [proposition summary] to allow Gov. Schwarzenegger increased power to make budget cuts.

Also on Tuesday, Maine voted to keep [ballot question text] a state law [bill summary; JURIST report] that protects homosexuals from discrimination in the areas of employment, housing and education. Voters had previously rejected these anti-discrimination laws in 1998 and 2000. Elsewhere, Texas voters approved [JURIST report] a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages [Proposition 2 text], becoming the 19th state to agree to such a ban. In Ohio, voters rejected four proposed election law changes [League of Women Voters summary], one of which would have enabled a neutral commission to map political districts instead of the Legislature. Ohio also rejected transferring election oversight from the elected secretary of state to a bipartisan commission.

Finally, in a contentious local ballot, voters in San Francisco Tuesday approved a measure [AP report; Proposition H SF Department of Elections backgrounder] prohibiting the manufacture and sale of all firearms and ammunition in city limits, and making it illegal for city residents to keep handguns in their home or places of work. San Francisco becomes the third US city after Washington and Chicago to pass such a broad gun ban. Opponents of the ban [No campaign website; additional No website] say a court challenge may follow. USA Today has more. Stateline.org provides a list of all statewide measures voted on during Tuesday's elections.