[JURIST] At a press conference [transcript; recorded video] in the Rose Garden Friday, President Bush urged members of Congress to approve his proposed legislation [PDF text; White House fact sheet] authorizing the use of military commissions [JURIST news archive] for terror detainees and enemy combatants, currently competing for passage with another bill approved [JURIST report] Thursday by the Senate Armed Services Committee [official website].

Bush said:

The bill I have proposed will ensure that suspected terrorists will receive full and fair trials, without revealing to them our nation's sensitive intelligence secrets. As soon as Congress acts on this bill, the man our intelligence agencies believe helped orchestrate the 9/11 attacks can face justice.

The bill would also provide clear rules for our personnel involved in detaining and questioning captured terrorists. The information that the Central Intelligence Agency has obtained by questioning men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has provided valuable information and has helped disrupt terrorist plots, including strikes within the United States....

I am asking Congress to pass a clear law with clear guidelines based on the Detainee Treatment Act that was strongly supported by Senator John McCain. There is a debate about the specific provisions in my bill, and we'll work with Congress to continue to try to find common ground. I have one test for this legislation, I'm going to answer one question as this legislation proceeds, and it's this: The intelligence community must be able to tell me that the bill Congress sends to my desk will allow this vital program to continue. That's what I'm going to ask.

This debate is occurring because of the Supreme Court's ruling [in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld] that said that we must conduct ourselves under the Common Article III of the Geneva Convention. And that Common Article III says that there will be no outrages upon human dignity. It's very vague. What does that mean, "outrages upon human dignity"? That's a statement that is wide open to interpretation. And what I'm proposing is that there be clarity in the law so that our professionals will have no doubt that that which they are doing is legal. You know, it's -- and so the piece of legislation I sent up there provides our professionals that which is needed to go forward....

Now, the Court said that you've got to live under Article III of the Geneva Convention, and the standards are so vague that our professionals won't be able to carry forward the program, because they don't want to be tried as war criminals. They don't want to break the law. These are decent, honorable citizens who are on the front line of protecting the American people, and they expect our government to give them clarity about what is right and what is wrong in the law. And that's what we have asked to do.

And we believe a good way to go is to use the amendment that we worked with John McCain on, called the Detainee Treatment Act, as the basis for clarity for people we would ask to question the enemy. In other words, it is a way to bring U.S. law into play. It provides more clarity for our professionals. And that's what these people expect. These are decent citizens who don't want to break the law.

Now, this idea that somehow we've got to live under international treaties, you know -- and that's fine, we do, but oftentimes the United States passes law to clarify obligations under international treaty. And what I'm concerned about is if we don't do that, then it's very conceivable our professionals could be held to account based upon court decisions in other countries. And I don't believe Americans want that. I believe Americans want us to protect the country, to have clear standards for our law enforcement intelligence officers, and give them the tools necessary to protect us within the law.

The second bill before Congress would modernize our electronic surveillance laws and provide additional authority for the terrorist surveillance program. I authorized the National Security Agency to operate this vital program in response to the 9/11 attacks. It allows us to quickly monitor terrorist communications between someone overseas and someone in the United States, and it's helped detect and prevent attacks on our country.

The principle behind this program is clear: when an al Qaeda operative is calling into the United States or out of the country, we need to know who they're calling, why they're calling, and what they're planning.

[JURIST] US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez [official profile] said in a speech [text] Friday that Cuba [JURIST news archive] should hold a referendum on democracy as a countervailing force to the ongoing dictatorship of Cuban President Fidel Castro [BBC profile]. Gutierrez, a Cuban-American, suggested that the Organization of American States [official website] could sponsor the referendum in a manner recalling its successful campaign to remove former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive; BBC profile].

Gutierrez went on to denounce interim Cuban President Raul Castro [Wikipedia profile], who has been filling in for his brother during illness, and said the US will not do business with him. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] One week after US President Bush confirmed [JURIST report; speech transcript] the existence of secret prisons for high-value terror suspects [CRS report text, via Secrecy News] run by the US Central Intelligence Agency [official website] abroad, top-level members of the Council of the European Union [official website] publicly criticized [press release] the program Friday. According to an EU press release:

Ministers reiterated their commitment to combating terrorism effectively, using all legal means and instruments available. Terrorism is itself a threat to a system of values based on the rule of law.

They reiterated that, in combating terrorism, human rights and humanitarian standards have to be maintained. Accordingly, they acknowledged the intention of the United States administration to treat all detainees in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention and the assurances about ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) access.

The existence of secret detention facilities where detained persons are kept in a legal vacuum is not in conformity with international humanitarian law and international criminal law.

[JURIST] While noting that "many of our nations are making progress on human rights," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [official profile; JURIST news archive] urged nations belonging to the Non-Aligned Movement [NAM backgrounder, DOC; Wikipedia backgrounder] Friday to "fulfill their obligations to their people at home" by ending the suppression of opposition groups, guaranteeing a free press and fighting corruption. Speaking at the NAM summit [conference website] in Cuba [JURIST news archive], Annan said [text]:

The sheer size of this Movement does not equal success. A larger voice brings with it greater responsibility, both internationally and at home. ...

A responsibility to implement the principle all Governments have signed on to - that States, both individually and collectively, have a duty to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

That includes a duty to protect populations from carnage by allowing the international community to make a positive contribution for change.

[JURIST] A former lawyer for the Federal Communications Commission [official website; JURIST news archive] has said the agency ordered the destruction of a 2004 draft working paper [PDF text] that examined the effect of corporate group ownership on local television news coverage. Adam Candeub [academic profile], who was an attorney-advisor in the FCC's Media Bureau before joining the Michigan State University law faculty, told AP that high-ranking FCC officials directed staff members to destroy "every last piece" of the draft and that the project "was just stopped" afterward. The existence of the study was publicly revealed by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) [official profile], who said she received a copy from someone inside the FCC during confirmation proceedings [committee materials] for FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin [official profile], whom President Bush nominated for a second term in April. In a letter to Boxer [PDF text] Friday, Martin responded that neither he nor his staff had been aware of the draft until Boxer's disclosure and that he did not know why it had been withheld.

The working paper, based on analysis of 4,000 news stories, concluded that locally owned television stations carried five more minutes of news per broadcast than group-owned stations, and three more minutes of so-called "on location" news. In 2003, the year before the study, the FCC voted to allow companies to own multiple television stations in some markets as part of an effort to relax ownership rules, insisting that group stations were more likely to carry local news stories. The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, however, thwarted the rule changes [court materials] in 2004. The FCC decided not to appeal and this June approved a review of the ownership rules [JURIST reports]. AP has more.

[JURIST] An Italian military tribunal in Rome has indicted three Italian soldiers for a 2004 attack on an ambulance in the town of Nasiriyah in Iraq [JURIST news archive] that resulted in the deaths of four civilians, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported [report, in Italian] Thursday. The three soldiers fired on an ambulance they say they mistook for a vehicle containing an explosive device. Corporal Raffaele Allocca claims marshal Fabio Stival ordered him to fire on the ambulance and maintains that the civilian killings were accidental. Both soldiers are among the three indicted for improper use of weapons and attacking civilians charged with rescue detail.

The indictments stem from the first court proceeding for Italian military personnel since the beginning of the nation's deployment in Iraq in 2003. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi [official profile] has said Italian troops, which number only about 1,000 today, will be completely evacuated from the region by the end of 2006. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] will provide copies of oral argument transcripts on the Court's website the same day that cases are heard when the Court begins its new term on October 2, the court announced [press release] Thursday. In the past, the Court has offered same-day transcripts only in the rarest of cases with overwhelming public interest, such as the 2000 Bush v. Gore [transcript] decision. Otherwise, the public had to wait approximately two weeks before the transcripts became available online, unless individuals purchased them for hundreds of dollars from a reporting service. The transcripts will be made with the assistance of a court reporter in the Courtroom, making it unnecessary to send audio recordings off-site for later review.

Same-day transcription represents a significant institutional move toward public access under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts. Last November the Court authorized the quick release of audio recordings [press release] of oral arguments in the Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood and Rumsfeld v. FAIR cases. The Court nonetheless continues to oppose televising its proceedings [JURIST report], despite political urgings to do so [JURIST report]. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] Nine former federal judges sent a letter [PDF text] to Congress on Thursday raising concerns about a provision in the proposed Military Commissions Act of 2006 [JURIST report] that, according to the judges, would "strip the federal courts of jurisdiction to test the lawfulness of Executive detention at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station and elsewhere outside the United States." According to the letter:

We applaud Congress for taking action establishing procedures to try individuals for war crimes and, in particular, Senator Warner, Senator Graham, and others for ensuring that those procedures prohibit the use of secret evidence and evidence gained by coercion. Revoking habeas corpus, however, creates the perverse incentive of allowing individuals to be detained indefinitely on that very basis by stripping the federal courts of their historic inquiry into the lawfulness of a prisoner's confinement.

Finally, eliminating habeas jurisdiction would raise serious concerns under the Suspension Clause of the Constitution. The writ has been suspended only four times in our Nation's history, and never under circumstances like the present. Congress cannot suspend the writ at will, even during wartime, but only in "Cases of Rebellion or Invasion [when] the public Safety may require it." U.S. Const. art. I 9, cl. 2. Congress would thus be skating on thin constitutional ice in depriving the federal courts of their power to hear the cases of Guantanamo detainees. At a minimum, Section 6 would guarantee that these cases would be mired in protracted litigation for years to come. If one goal of the provision is to bring these cases to a speedy conclusion, we can assure you from our considerable experience that eliminating habeas would be counterproductive.

For two hundred years, the federal judiciary has maintained Chief Justice Marshall's solemn admonition that ours is a government of laws, and not of men. The proposed legislation imperils this proud history by abandoning the Great Writ to the siren call of military necessity. We urge you to remove the provision stripping habeas jurisdiction from the proposed Military Commissions Act of 2006 and to reject any legislation that deprives the federal courts of habeas jurisdiction over pending Guantanamo detainee cases.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of the Netherlands [official website, in Dutch] on Friday refused to extradite [press release, in Dutch] the leader of the Kurdistan Worker's Party [official website, FAS backgrounder] to Turkey, citing the possibility that she could be tortured after returning to the country. Nuriye Kesbir is accused of participating in 25 attacks in eastern Turkey between 1993 and 1995 as part of Kurdistan's battle for self-rule. Kesbir, who was originally arrested in the Netherlands in 2001, has denied the charges, claiming that she is only involved in political issues. After Kesbir's request for asylum was denied, the Dutch government approved her extradition to Turkey in September 2004. She appealed the decision and was released in 2005.

Groups such as Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] have come to Kesbir's aid, decrying in letter [text] to the Turkish government "Turkey's failure to adequately monitor those responsible for complying with legal safeguards against torture." In a report published last week, the Council of Europe [official website] said that "care must be taken that the improved legal framework for detention and questioning ... does not engender illegal practices" in Turkey [JURIST news archive]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Three former employees of the Election Commission of Thailand [official website, in Thai] received their second conviction on Friday for dereliction of duty in the April 2 election [BBC report]. The officials, who are appealing a July four-year sentence for abuse of power [JURIST report], were found to have aided the ruling Thai Rak Thai [party website] party in presenting mock candidates. The election was voided [JURIST report] one month later by the Constitutional Court [official website], which decided that parties had not been given enough time to campaign.

The new head of the Election Commission announced Thursday that a second round of national elections, originally scheduled for October 15, must be postponed until November [IHT report] due to logistical problems. Although Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [official website; BBC profile] has consistently denied allegations of election fraud [JURIST report], today he commented that he "may take a break" from politics [Xinhua report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives [official website] Thursday adopted a new rule requiring lawmakers to disclose their sponsorship of so-called "earmarks" inserted into bills to fund special spending projects. H.Res. 1000 [summary] requires that bills coming out of committee, bills containing tax measures, and conference reports list all earmarks and the names of the congressperson who requested them. Earmarks could previously be inserted anonymously.

Many see the new rule, adopted 245-171, as an attempt to reaffirm Congressional ethics in the wake of high-profile lobbying scandals involving Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay [JURIST news archives]. Citizens Against Government Waste [advocacy website] has pushed for earmark reform, reporting that Congress spent an extra $29 billion in fiscal appropriations bills in 2006 through use of earmarks. President Bush has already expressed his approval [White House press release] of the bill. In March, Bush proposed a line-item veto bill that would give him limited power to reject special spending and earmarks without compromising entire legislative packages. The measure has been approved by the House [JURIST report] but is stalled in the Senate. AP has more.

[JURIST] Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos [official profile, in Spanish; Euroresidentes profile] acknowledged Thursday that US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] planes transporting detainees to secret prisons [JURIST news archive] in Europe may have stopped over on its soil. Moratinos told a European Parliament committee that although the US had assured Spain that no suspects were aboard the planes, the islands of Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife "may have been used not to commit crimes on it but as a stopover on the way to committing crime in another country." The Spanish government is investigating 60 suspected flights [JURIST report] that passed through the islands. Last fall, a similar investigation [JURIST report] led to the conclusion that such flights were legal [JURIST report].

Investigation into CIA rendition flights [JURIST news archive] and criticism of the CIA has been widespread in Europe since President Bush acknowledged the existence of secret prisons [JURIST report] for the first time last week. Moratinos plans to urge other European leaders to speak out [EU Observer report] against the operation of such prisons at a foreign affairs meeting on Friday. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Japan [court website] rejected a death penalty appeal Friday by former cult leader Shoko Asahara [BBC profile; JURIST report], who was convicted of masterminding the 1995 nerve gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system [MIPT report]. Asahara, the former head of Aum Shinrikyo [Wikipedia backgrounder], was convicted of murder and attempted murder in 2004 for releasing sarin nerve gas on rush-hour trains, killing 12 and sickening 5,500. Asahara was also found guilty of planning a nerve gas attack that killed 7 people in the city of Matsumoto.

Eleven other members of Aum Shinrikyo have been sentenced to death for the attacks [JURIST report], but none of the executions have been carried out. Japan does not publicly announce hangings in advance. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives voted 283-138 [roll call] Thursday for a bill providing for the construction of a 700-mile fence along the US-Mexico border designed to curb illegal immigration [JURIST news archive]. The Secure Fence Act of 2006 [PDF text; HR 6061 summary] also provides that the Department of Homeland Security [official website] take control of the border in 18 months and gives border patrol agents additional authority to stop fleeing vehicles. The bill, however, does not provide the funding to pay for the construction of the "reinforced fencing," which is estimated to be between $2 and $7 billion. The Secure Fence Act also calls for a study [Canadian Press report; JURIST report] to determine whether a fence should be constructed along the Canadian border.

In December 2005, the House passed a broader immigration bill [JURIST report] which provided for a border fence as well as making illegal immigration a felony. The Senate passed a separate immigration reform bill [JURIST report] in May. The Senate version included a border fence provision [JURIST report], but would have also set millions of illegal immigrants on a path to potential citizenship and would have authorized a temporary worker program. US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist earlier this month said that negotiations to reconcile the two bills would be postponed [JURIST report] in order to focus on border security and worksite enforcement legislation. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Colorado Division of Civil Rights (CCRD) [official website] has ruled [opinion, PDF] that an employer violated the state's anti-discrimination laws when it fired an employee who was preparing to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Intermountain Testing [corporate website] claimed David Cornwell, now known as Danielle Cornwell, was let go because of a decline in business and a low performance rating. Cornwell, who had worked at Intermountain for 15 years had recently informed her employer that she was a transsexual. CCRD Director Wendell Pryor held that Intermountain's stated reasons were pretextual, and found discrimination because no other employees doing similar work were fired.

The Legal Initiatives Project (CLIP) of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Center of Colorado [official website] on Thursday praised the ruling [press release, PDF], which is the first of its kind in Colorado, as progress for transgendered people. CLIP Legal Director John Hummel said, "We are delighted that CCRD has recognized that transgender employees are entitled to protection under the sex discrimination laws as all other men and women. This ruling follows in the footsteps of similar rulings from other states, and demonstrates Colorado's clear understanding that discrimination against transgender people is intolerable." AP has more.

[JURIST] US Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) [official website] is expected to plead guilty to at least one criminal charge stemming from his involvement with lobbyist Jack Abramoff [JURIST news archive], Republican officials announced Thursday. Ney is expected to admit to filing a false House disclosure report, where he claimed to visit members of the Scottish Parliament in 2002 when in fact he was on a golfing trip in Scotland with Abramoff. Ney is also believed to have accepted a 2003 trip to Lake George, New York, tickets to concerts and sporting events, and food and drink at Abramoff's restaurant. Ney will be the first member of Congress to plead guilty for his involvement with Abramoff, but other members of Congress are also under investigation [JURIST report].

In May, Ney's former chief of staff and former Abramoff business partner, Neil Volz [Wikipedia profile], pleaded guilty to conspiring to corrupt the congressman and other aides with trips and other perks. In his plea, Volz admitted 16 actions Ney had taken on behalf of Abramoff clients between January 2000 and April 2004, including awarding a wireless contract for House office buildings and supporting the reopening of an Indian casino. Ney, who will not run for re-election this year may face jail time. AP has more. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has local coverage.

10:44 AM ET - CBS News is reporting that Ney has agreed to plead guilty to making false statements, conspiracy to commit fraud and violating post-employment restrictions for former congressional aides.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Abramoff and Congressional Reform

[JURIST] The US Senate Armed Services Committee [official website] voted 15-9 Thursday to send a bill authorizing military commissions [PDF text; JURIST report] drafted by Republican Senators John Warner, Lindsey Graham and John McCain to the full Senate for consideration despite objections from the White House, which has offered its own proposal [PDF text; White House fact sheet]. The stricter Bush administration bill to establish military trial procedures for terror detainees would allow classified evidence to be withheld from defendants and would limit prisoners' rights guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials]. Senate leaders have indicated that a full Senate vote on the military commissions legislation could come as early as next week. AP has more.

Prior to Thursday's vote former US Secretary of State Colin Powell [official profile] sent a letter [PDF text] to Sen. McCain, expressing opposition to the Bush plan, saying that provisions that would redefine Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions [text] would be "inconsistent" with the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 [JURIST document], which incorporated the so-called McCain amendment. Powell wrote, "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk." The White House has disputed statements that it is proposing to "reinterpret" or "redefine" Common Article 3, saying instead that it is proposing to "clarify" Common Article 3 [fact sheet; Washington File report] because parts of the standard "are currently vague and undefined."

Earlier Thursday President Bush made a rare visit to Capitol Hill to urge US House Republicans to approve his version of the legislation. Bush praised [statement] the US House Armed Services Committee [official website] for approving [JURIST report] its version of the Military Commissions Bill [HASC press release, PDF], which is very similar to the administration's proposal. Bush called the bill "a very important piece of legislation...that will give us the tools and wherewithal to protect this country" and said that he will "continue to work with members of the Congress to get good legislation so we can do our duty." AP has more.