[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled [PDF text] Friday that the US Navy can use high-powered sonar in training exercises off the California coast, granting the Navy's request to for a stay on an injunction granted by a lower court while the Navy appeals that decision. The Natural Resources Defense Council [advocacy website] sued the Navy, arguing that Navy's decision to "medium frequency active sonar" without preparing a full environmental impact statement violated several federal laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act [EPA materials], the Endangered Species Act [PDF text], the Administrative Procedures Act [text] and the Coastal Zone Management Act [text]. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction [NRDC press release] in August, blocking the Navy from proceeding with the exercises.

The Ninth Circuit put a stay on that injunction while the Navy appeals the ruling, holding that "the Navy's probability of at least partial success on the merits is high." The court also noted:

The public does indeed have a very considerable interest in preserving our natural environment and especially relatively scarce whales. But it also has an interest in national defense. We are currently engaged in war, in two countries. There are no guarantees extending from 2007 to 2009 or at any other time against other countries deciding to engage us, or our determining that it is necessary to engage other countries. The safety of the whales must be weighed, and so must the safety of our warriors. And of our country.

[JURIST] A California-based federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday blocking the application of new US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] rules [PDF text] designed to make it harder for illegal immigrants to obtain US employment. Under the get-tough rules, announced [JURIST report; DHS transcript] in August and slated to take have taken effect September 10, employers who receive notices from the Social Security Administration [official website] informing them of non-matching records between an employee's name and social security number (SSN) would have to resolve any discrepancy within 90 days, dismiss the employee or face up to $10,000 in fines for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. US unions and the ACLU sought to bar enforcement of the rules earlier this week, citing errors in the matching database and the danger of legally-employed persons losing their jobs as a result. Immigrant advocacy grounds have also urged caution, expressing concern about a piecemeal administrative control strategy [EWIC press release, PDF] short of comprehensive immigration reform, which has not been approved by Congress.

US District Judge Maxine M. Chesney said the lawsuit highlighted the fact that there was "serious question" about whether DHS had overreached itself in making the rules, and directed the SSA not to send out a mailing to some 140,000 employers advising them there were discrepancies in their particular employment records. A hearing on the matter has been set for October 1. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan [IHT backgrounder] told the country's parliament Friday that his government will draft a new constitution that would more effectively protect individual rights in accordance with international standards. Erdogan was laying out his program for the next five years in the aftermath of the sweeping victory won by his Justice and Development Party (AKP) [party website, in Turkish] in national elections [MSNBC report] in July. The party has already started work on a reformist charter that would overhaul the current constitution [text], approved in 1982. Anticipated amendments include a guarantee against torture and protection of the rights of soldiers dismissed from the army for Islamist affiliations to appeal against their expulsions. The AKP is a secular offshoot of a now-banned Islamist party.

Turkey has been under increasing pressure to reform its laws and state structure as part of accession negotiations with the European Union [JURIST report], which stalled last year after EU officials complained of inadequate progress on a range of rights-related issues [JURIST report]. The AKP's reform efforts are, however, being met by distrust from the country's powerful and highly secularist military; earlier this week, as lawmakers elected former Islamist and Erdogan protege Abdullah Gul to the country's presidency, the army warned that "centers of evil" were in fact trying to undermine the constitution [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [advocacy website] has filed a lawsuit challenging Louisiana's efforts to remove people from the state's voting list because they have registered in other states following Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive]. In its lawsuit, filed Thursday, the NAACP argues that the Louisiana secretary of state's efforts to purge the voter rolls have not received approval from the US Department of Justice as required under the 1965 Voting Rights Act [DOJ materials].

Earlier this summer, Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne [official website] notified voters whose names appeared on other states' voting rolls that they would be removed from the list of eligible voters in Louisiana if they failed to cancel the non-Louisiana registrations. Over 53,000 voters received notice that they risked being purged from Louisiana's list and state officials said earlier this month that nearly 22,000 people had been dropped from the list. AP has more.

[JURIST] A new one-page US military report obtained by the Associated Press shows that despite a decline in the number of prisoners held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], "mass disturbances" by inmates have risen substantially thusfar in 2007, increasing over 90% from 201 in 2006 to 385 in the first six months of this year. Other violent incidents such as "forced cell extractions" and "assault with bodily fluids" setting prisoners against guards meanwhile remain relatively constant or show signs of increasing. The report did not say what exactly constitutes a "mass disturbance", although a military spokesman said the category did not include hunger strikes [JURIST news archive].

About 100 prisoners have been released from Guantanamo in the past year; after three inmates committed suicide [JURIST report] in June 2006 security for the remainder was increased, and most inmates are now held in solitary confinement [JURIST report] for all but two hours a day. The US military says the prisoners are dangerous and still pose a threat to guards, while rights groups and lawyers for many of the prisoners continue to insist that their detention conditions are too harsh and their lack of legal recourse to the US courts makes them increasingly hopeless and desperate. AP has more.

[JURIST] A convention convened by the government of Myanmar [JURIST news archive] to establish guidelines for the eventual drafting of a new national constitution [JURIST news archive] completed work at its final session [JURIST report] Friday as international pressure increased for the government to release demonstrators [JURIST report] arrested last week for participating in a peaceful protest against a recent rise in fuel prices. The convention, criticized for being dominated by the military junta that named most of its members and excluded pro-democracy activists like Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi [advocacy website; JURIST news archive], will formally complete its work Monday. It is not yet clear who will draft the actual constitution or how that process will occur, but the Myanmar government has pledged to put the resulting document to a vote in a national referendum.

Myanmar has been governed without a constitution since the military regime took power in 1988. Talks on a new national charter have been underway for 14 years. AP has more.