[JURIST] Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts [official profile; JURIST news archive] released his first year-end report on the federal judiciary [PDF text] Sunday, one of his duties as the highest judicial officer in the country. After acknowledging the need to ensure the safety of all courtrooms following the high-profile killings of a Georgia state judge and a federal district judge's family members [JURIST reports], Roberts stressed the importance of increasing the pay of federal judges in order to keep the best judges on the bench. Calling the low pay of judges a "direct threat" to the independence of the judiciary, Roberts argued that the real pay of judges, adjusted for inflation, has declined by almost 24 percent since 1969, compared to a 15 percent increase in real pay enjoyed by the average American worker over the same period. As a result, of the 92 federal judges who have retired since 1992, 59 have retired to assume more lucrative positions in private practice. AP has more.

[JURIST] One day after the Syrian parliament demanded [Reuters report] that former Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam [Wikipedia profile] be tried for treason and corruption, the country's ruling Baath party decided Sunday to expel [statement] Khaddam from the party after he accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile] of threatening the life of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive] during a meeting in Damascus two months before Hariri was killed by a bomb in Beirut. In what Baath party officials called "slander which violates the principles of the nation," Khaddam alleged during an interview last week that Bashar had said "I will destroy anyone who tries to hinder our decisions" during a discussion about Hariri. The Baath party called Khaddam an opportunist trying to salvage the damaged reputation of the UN investigation into the killing. Outgoing investigation head Detlev Mehlis announced [JURIST report] last month that he was "convinced" that the Syrian government was responsible for the assassination after releasing a report [JURIST report] that included new evidence implicating the security forces of Syria and Lebanon in the plot to kill Hariri. AFP has more.

[JURIST] President Bush on Sunday defended the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST archive], saying the program was "limited" and was not a violation of civil liberties. Answering questions [transcript] about the program during a visit to wounded troops at the Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, Bush also said that officials only wiretapped conversations that involved known al Qaeda or associated phone numbers. Bush stressed that the administration sought to have the secret program reviewed by Department of Justice officials as well as members of Congress while it was implemented. AP has more.

Meanwhile Sunday, US Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) [official website], discussing the Department of Justice's investigation [JURIST report] into the source of the classified information that led to the disclosure [JURIST report] of the NSA secret wiretapping program, said that the DOJ should thoroughly investigate the situation [AP report] before deciding whether to characterize the leaker as a felon intending to compromise national security, or as a whistleblower attempting to uncover illegal activity. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Schumer also said that several members of the Bush administration should be ordered to testify [FNS transcript] in front of the Senate committee investigating the NSA wiretapping program. Schumer was referring to a report in Sunday's New York Times that in March 2004 then Deputy Attorney General James Comey, acting as attorney general while John Ashcroft [official profile] was hospitalized, refused to sign off on the program's continued use, expressing concern over the legality of the program. Alberto Gonzales [official profile], White House counsel at the time, and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card [official profile] reportedly then went to the hospitalized Ashcroft for approval. It is not clear whether Ashcroft certified the program or whether the White House proceeded without it. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Many new state laws [NCSL press release] took effect on Sunday, including measures to safeguard against child sex offenders and the misuse of personal information. Michigan strengthened [summary] its sex offender laws, and Illinois banned human trafficking, allowing state law enforcement to prosecute such crimes. Louisiana and Michigan now require companies to notify state residents when they believe personal information has been compromised, following several high-profile identity theft cases [JURIST report], including ones involving LexisNexis and credit card companies [JURIST report]. An Illinois law [text] banning [JURIST report] the sale of violent video games to minors was set to take effect January 1, but was struck down [JURIST report] in December by a federal judge as an unconscionable violation of free speech. AP has more.