[JURIST] A UK High Court judge ruled Tuesday that Military Families Against the War (MFAW) and the Stop the War Coalition [advocacy websites], representing British families of soldiers killed in Iraq, cannot challenge the government's refusal to hold a public inquiry into the UK decision to go to war [JURIST report]. Last month, the groups petitioned the court for permission [JURIST report] to launch a legal challenge [press release] to the government's refusal to hold an inquiry, arguing that the refusal violates Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights [text] requiring that a proper, adequate investigation be conducted when lives are lost. Justice Collins ruled Tuesday that the groups did not have an actionable case and refused to hold a full hearing in the matter. Collins' decision can still be appealed to the Court of Appeal. The groups first called for an inquiry [JURIST report] in May, and subsequently filed suit against UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for war crimes [JURIST report] in the International Criminal Court. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] CBS News is reporting that a judge in New York has imposed a $1 million-per-day fine against the New York City Transport Workers Union [Local 100 website; International TWU website] for violating state law by going on strike. Earlier Monday, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority [official website] was "seeking to convince a Supreme Court judge to punish the TWU for being in contempt of court. We will use every avenue available under the law to get the transit workers back to work. The TWU has violated the laws of our land by defying an order of the court and they must be held accountable." Read Bloomberg's full press release. The State's Supreme Court, a trial-level court, had previously issued an injunction [PDF text] preventing the International TWU or Local 100 from "conducting, engaging or participating in, through any manner of any means a strike, work stoppage, sick-out, slowdown, or any other concerted activity with the intent of interrupting the normal and regular operations of the New Your City Transit Authority and the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Operating Authority."

4:15 PM ET - AP now has more.

[JURIST] Members of the US House and Senate have abandoned plans to split the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website], dropping the proposal from the budget reconciliation bill. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner had introduced legislation [HR 4093 text], which was included in the house version of the deficit-cutting bill, that would have created a Ninth Circuit that would cover California, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, and a new 12th Circuit covering Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Arizona. A similar circuit-splitting proposal [S. 1301 bill summary] was considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee but was not included in the Senate budge bill and Republican leaders ultimately decided to drop the proposal during a conference committee. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, called the decision a victory [press release], saying "The plan to split the 9th Circuit was a politically driven attempt to intrude on the constitutionally mandated independence of the federal judiciary." Tuesday's San Francisco Chronicle has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Justice Department backs plans to split Ninth Circuit
• Senate Judiciary Committee debates proposal to split 9th Circuit
• New House bill would split Ninth Circuit, add federal judges

[JURIST] Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio [AP profile], who watched the market value of his company decline over $100 billion, has been indicted on 42 counts of insider trading for allegedly selling off more than $100 million in Qwest stock, the US attorney's office in Denver announced Tuesday. The criminal indictment follows the government's four-year-old investigation into the accounting practices of Nacchio and his fellow executives at Qwest Communications [corporate website], a Denver-based telephone service provider in 14 western states. Nacchio and other executives are also facing a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] and civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission [JURIST report], alleging Qwest improperly reported approximately $3 billion in revenue that eased its 2000 merger with US West. Nacchio, 56, is currently in custody awaiting his first court appearance expected sometime later Tuesday. He faces up to ten years in prison and a $1 million fine for each of the 42 counts, each of which concerns an allegedly illegal stock transaction. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter [official website] has said that he will ask US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito [JURIST news archive] about the constitutionality of President Bush's authorization of domestic spying [JURIST report]. In a letter Monday, Specter, who will preside over Alito's confirmation hearing [JURIST report] next month, also asked Alito to be prepared to answer whether he agreed with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's recent assertion in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld [OYEZ backgrounder; PDF opinion] that "war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens." Specifically, Specter asked, "In light of Justice O'Connor's statement, what jurisprudential theory would you invoke to evaluate the limits on the president's authority to conduct surveillance on U.S. citizens without going through the court system?" The Bush administration has maintained [JURIST report] that the US Constitution and the congressional Authorization for Use of Military Force [text], which was passed after the September 11, 2001 attacks and urged the president to respond with "all necessary and appropriate force", provide Bush ample authority to permit eavesdropping even against US citizens and without a court order. Specter and other Republicans, along with top Democrats [JURIST report], have promised a congressional investigation into Bush's recently disclosed orders to permit such warrantless eavesdropping by the National Security Agency [official website]. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Chilean appeals court has again upheld indictments against former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] for his role in the disappearance of three dissidents who went missing in the early years of his 1973-1990 regime. Pinochet has been indicted in a total of nine cases, including the twenty-six indictments that were allowed to be joined earlier this month [JURIST report], all stemming from a 1975 offensive known as Operation Colombo [Wikipedia backgrounder] which allegedly resulted in the killing of 119 political dissidents. Pinochet claims that the dissidents were killed during clashes between rival groups who opposed his regime. His lawyers are expected to appeal to Chile's Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish], arguing that Pinochet, who suffers from mild dementia, diabetes, and arthritis, is too ill to stand trial. Pinochet also has been indicted on tax evasion and corruption charges [JURIST report] stemming from multimillion-dollar bank accounts he maintained abroad. Currently, the 90-year-old retired general remains under house arrest at his mansion in a Santiago suburb. AP has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that a federal judge has ruled that "intelligent design" cannot be taught in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district. US District Judge John E. Jones III ruled Tuesday that the Dover Area School District [official website] violated the Constitution when it decided that biology curriculum must include anti-evolutionary intelligent design theory [Natural History backgrounder]. AP has more.

11:11 AM ET - Judge Jones wrote:

The proper application of both the endorsement and Lemon tests to the facts of this case makes it abundantly clear that the Board's ID Policy violates the Establishment Clause. In making this determination, we have addressed the seminal question of whether ID is science. We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents. ...

Those who disagree with our holding will likely mark it as the product of an activist judge. If so, they will have erred as this is manifestly not an activist Court. Rather, this case came to us as the result of the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on ID, who in combination drove the Board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy. The breathtaking inanity of the Board's decision is evident when considered against the factual backdrop which has now been fully revealed through this trial. The students, parents, and teachers of the Dover Area School District deserved better than to be dragged into this legal maelstrom, with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources.

To preserve the separation of church and state mandated by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and Art. I, § 3 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, we will enter an order permanently enjoining Defendants from maintaining the ID Policy in any school within the Dover Area School District, from requiring teachers to denigrate or disparage the scientific theory of evolution, and from requiring teachers to refer to a religious, alternative theory known as ID. We will also issue a declaratory judgment that Plaintiffs' rights under the Constitutions of the United States and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have been violated by Defendants' actions. Defendants' actions in violation of Plaintiffs' civil rights as guaranteed to them by the Constitution of the United States and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 subject Defendants to liability with respect to injunctive and declaratory relief, but also for nominal damages and the reasonable value of Plaintiffs' attorneys' services and costs incurred in vindicating Plaintiffs' constitutional rights.

• Pennsylvania intelligent design trial ends
• Federal trial begins in challenge to 'intelligent design' theory
• ACLU to file first lawsuit against teaching of "intelligent design" creationism

[JURIST] The trial of five former members of a Serbian paramilitary group charged with the videotaped execution of six Bosnian Muslims during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] began in Belgrade Tuesday. The five defendants, members of the Scorpions, were arrested [JURIST report] in June after a video [JURIST video] showing the executions was broadcast on Serbian television after being presented as evidence during former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial at The Hague. The men were charged [JURIST report] in October, marking the first time the Serbian government has brought charges against its own citizens for alleged war crimes. If convicted, the defendants face up to 40 years in prison. AP has more.

[JURIST] US senators debated Monday evening the possibility of extending the USA Patriot Act [PDF text; JURIST news archive] only temporarily, from as little as three months to as long as four years, in response to President Bush's statement earlier in the day [JURIST report] urging the Senate to reauthorize the Patriot Act. Last week, the US House approved the reauthorization legislation [JURIST report], but the bill stalled in the Senate [JURIST report], with some Senators citing concerns over civil liberties protections. In a compromise, Democrats offered to extend for three months portions of the Act that are set to expire on Dec. 31 [CRS backgrounder; PDF], while moderate Republicans have insisted that any extension should last one to four years at a minimum. Other Republicans, such as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist [official website], have insisted that Republicans will only consider a temporary extension as a last resort. AP has more.

[JURIST] Five members of the elite US Army 75th Ranger Regiment [official website] have been sentenced for up to six months for abusing detainees in Iraq. The five soldiers were charged [JURIST report] last month in connection with a September 2005 incident [press release] where three detainees were allegedly punched and kicked while awaiting transfer to a detention facility. All five pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty [press release], and four also pleaded guilty to assault and battery charges. Two of the soldiers pleaded guilty to additional charges of maltreatment in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice [text]. The sentences range from 30-day to six-month confinements, according to US military statement made Monday, and two will be dishonorably discharged from the Army. AP has more.

[JURIST] Defense lawyers for Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] said Tuesday that the former Iraqi ruler will be in court when his trial [JURIST news archive] resumes Wednesday. During proceedings earlier this month, Hussein boycotted a trial session [JURIST report] in protest over the conditions of his detention. The Iraqi High Criminal Court (formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website]) continued without Hussein in the courtroom before adjourning until Dec. 21 [JURIST report]. One of Hussein's lawyers said Tuesday that Hussein will be in court "unless something unexpected happens" and prosecutors have indicated that they expect to call four or five witnesses to testify. Hussein and seven co-defendants [Reuters report] are charged with murder, torture, forced expulsions and illegal imprisonment stemming from a 1982 massacre in Dujail [JURIST report] and could face the death penalty if found guilty. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Sunni Arabs on Tuesday said that partial results released earlier this week in Iraq's parliamentary elections [JURIST news archive] were a "falsification of the will of the people" and said that there was abundant evidence of fraud. Preliminary results [PDF text] from Baghdad province were released Monday, showing that with 89 percent of ballot boxes counted, the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance [BBC profile] had won almost 59 percent of the vote with the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front [BBC profile] taking about 19 percent. The Sunni coalition group rejected the results saying there would be "grave repercussions on security and political stability" if efforts are not made to correct mistakes, and head of the IAF said that the alliance could demand that elections be held again in Baghdad. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) [official website] has said that it will address all complaints [press release, PDF]; so far the commission has received almost 700 complaints including 20 classified as "red", meaning they could affect specific election results. The IECI said Tuesday that final results will not be ready and certified until early January [AP report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Top Senate Democrats have said that they never approved or were fully briefed on the National Security Agency's post-September 11th domestic surveillance program [JURIST report]. President Bush has vigorously defended the program, which monitors international communications of people in the US with known links to al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, and in a press conference [transcript] Monday, Bush said that "Leaders in the United States Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this program." In a handwritten letter [PDF text] to Vice President Cheney following a Senate Intelligence Committee [official website] briefing in July 2003, vice chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) wrote that he felt "unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse, these activities." Rockefeller wrote that the briefing "exacerbat[ed] my concern regarding the direction the Administration is moving with regard to security, technology, and surveillance." Former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), who also sat on the Intelligence Committee, has said he didn't recall briefings on program spying on US residents. Both former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and his successor, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), have both said they had been briefed on the NSA program, but that key details about the program's scope were not shared.

Reid has called for a congressional investigation [JURIST report] into the NSA program, and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website], has said that his committee will hold hearings next year. Bush and other top administration officials have insisted that the program is legal and that Bush's authority to authorize the domestic wiretaps without a warrant is derived both from his inherent powers as commander-in-chief and a 2001 congressional resolution [PDF text] authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Gen. Michael Hayden, director of the NSA when the program began, held a press briefing [transcript] Monday further elaborating the administration's legal justifications for the program. AP has more.

1:48 PM ET - Both Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday called for an immediate joint investigation [press release] with the Senate Judiciary Committee into whether the NSA and government officials acted "without appropriate legal authority." Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Bush defends NSA domestic spying program
• Top Senate Democrat calls for probe into domestic spying
• Bush acknowledges approving secret eavesdropping on US residents
• Bush authorized warrantless phone, email tracking of US residents