[JURIST] The Supreme Court of California [official website] Thursday overturned [opinion, PDF] a state ban on same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive], ruling 4-3 in In re Marriage Cases [case materials] that the ban violated protections on the right to "form a family relationship" enshrined in the California Constitution [text]. Rights groups said that the decision could lead to California becoming the second state after Massachusetts [JURIST report] to legalize same-sex marriage, but religious and conservative organizations are currently pushing to include a measure on the November ballot to write a ban on gay marriage into the state constitution.

The lawsuits stemmed from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's 2004 decision to issue marriage licenses to 4,000 same-sex couples [JURIST report]. In 2006, the state attorney general requested [JURIST report] that the Court review an intermediate appellate court's decision to uphold [JURIST report] the same-sex marriage ban. AP has more. The San Francisco Chronicle has local coverage.

[JURIST] UK ministers and MPs deadlocked Wednesday over a controversial proposed anti-terror bill [BBC Q/A] that would allow British authorities to detain terror suspects up to 42 days without charge [JURIST news archive]. Prime Minister Gordon Brown [official website] has vowed to continue pushing for the bill's passage, despite staunch opposition. Opposition MPs and human rights groups have suggested alternatives to extending the detention limits, but ministers have refused to drop the proposal. Current British law authorizes detention without charge for 28 days [JURIST report], but bill proponents have argued that this time-limit endangers national security. The Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008 [draft text, PDF; bill materials] also includes provisions creating a registry of convicted terrorists and making terrorism an "aggravating factor" in sentencing for non-terrorism offenses. Conservative Party and Liberal Democrat MPs have opposed the legislation, fearing it could infringe on civil liberties.

UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith [official profile] first proposed a 42-day detention period [JURIST report] in December 2007. The proposal followed statements made in June 2007 by then-UK Home Secretary John Reid calling for longer pre-charge time limits, and a proposal [JURIST reports] floated last July that would have allowed the extension of the 28-day limit after a declared state of emergency and permitted judges to authorize weekly extensions for up to 56 days subject to parliamentary notification. The Scotsman has more.

[JURIST] Entertainment console and video game manufacturer Nintendo of America, Inc. [corporate website] was ordered to pay $21 million Wednesday to Anascape, Ltd., a small Texas video game company after losing a jury verdict in a patent infringement lawsuit concerning hand-held controllers for its Wii and Gamecube video game systems. Anascape filed a complaint [text] against both Nintendo and Microsoft Corporation [corporate website] in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas [court website] in 2006 for infringement on a patent [patent documentation] for a "hand held computer input apparatus and method." Microsoft reached a confidential settlement agreement with Anascape for an undisclosed amount. Nintendo is expected to appeal the verdict. AP has more.

In January, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments [JURIST report] concerning whether a patent holder's rights may be exhausted through certain license agreements. In September 2007, the US House of Representatives approved the Patent Reform Act of 2007 [JURIST report], the first overhaul of US patent laws in over 50 years. In early 2006, service for the widely-used Blackberry hand-held devices was nearly stopped before Blackberry maker Research in Motion reached a settlement [JURIST report] agreement in its patent dispute with NTP, Inc.

[JURIST] Myanmar's draft constitution [JURIST news archive] has been approved with over 90 percent of 22 million eligible voters voting yes in Saturday's nation-wide referendum [JURIST report], the country's military government said Thursday. The regime has faced sharp international criticism [JURIST report] for going ahead with the poll after a devastating cyclone earlier this month left at least 60,000 people dead or missing. Voting in the hardest-hit areas has been delayed until later this month, but state media said that negative votes in those districts would not be enough to defeat the referendum. International rights groups questioned the accuracy of the results, as some local journalists said that they witnessed many irregularities in the voting, with people voting multiple times or not having the privacy of a truly secret ballot. AP has more.

The National League for Democracy and other opposition groups labeled the referendum a "sham" to legalize military rule. The draft constitution reportedly reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military [AP report; JURIST report] and would also block pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] from seeking office. Myanmar [JURIST news archive] has been governed without a constitution since the military regime took power in 1988 and talks on a new national charter [JURIST report] have been underway for 14 years. The last general elections in Myanmar were held in 1990. The NLD, led by Suu Kyi, won that election easily, but the ruling military government did not recognize the result and placed Suu Kyi under house arrest.

[JURIST] The US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform [committee website] heard testimony [transcripts] on Thursday regarding potential abuse of the Defense Base Act of 1941 (DBA) [text] in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Act requires [PDF, US DOL backgrounder] contractors working on military installations to provide workers' compensation insurance coverage for their employees, the cost of which is reimbursed to the contractors using taxpayer funds. Civilian employees often have difficulty processing their claims [Federal Times report] after returning to the US. In his opening remarks, Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) [official website; JURIST news archive] stated that the "inefficient" DBA system has encouraged excessive profit-taking by insurance companies. Waxman asserted [PDF, opening statement] that "Rube Goldberg could not design a more inefficient way to help employees wounded or injured in Iraq." Additionally, AP reported Wednesday that the US Army Criminal Investigation Command [official website] is investigating [AP report] two Iraqi contractors working on public development projects in Iraq for insurance fraud related to the requirements of the DBA. AP has more.

On Monday, two former US State Department officials condemned the Bush administration's ineffectiveness in combating corruption in Iraq. In December 2007, the FBI launched a criminal probe into the activities of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. In October 2007, the State Department admitted that it could not account for most of the $1.2 billion in Iraqi police training funds. In August 2007, Pentagon investigators looked into allegations of fraud and corruption in military contracting in Iraq [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism Martin Scheinin [official website; JURIST news archive] praised anti-terrorism efforts in Spain [JURIST news archive] Wednesday, but urged Spanish officials to reform the country's legal standards for treatment of terror suspects [UN OHCHR press release]. The Special Rapporteur's comments came in response to concerns over allegations of torture and ill-treatment [Amnesty Int'l press releases] of terrorism suspects in Spanish jails. At the conclusion of his visit to Spain, Scheinin called on authorities to be mindful of international frameworks regarding human rights when investigating acts of domestic terrorism such as those perpetrated by the Basque separatist group ETA [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], or incidents of international scope, including the 2004 Madrid train bombings [JURIST news archive].

In February, 20 suspected Islamic terrorists were convicted [JURIST report] of lesser charges in conjunction with a plot to bomb the National Court in Madrid. That same month, Spanish officials confirmed [JURIST report] the arrests of the remaining ETA suspects in the 2006 Madrid airport bombings. In December 2007, 47 Basque separatists were convicted [JURIST report] by a Spanish anti-terrorism court of either leading, being a member of, or collaborating with a terrorist organization. In October 2007, three terror suspects were convicted of murder for their roles in the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

[JURIST] US Solicitor General Paul Clement [official profile] announced Wednesday that he is resigning from his post, effective June 2. Perhaps best-known for his Supreme Court advocacy [WP report; case resource center] of Bush Administration positions on rights and procedures at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], including such notable cases as Hamdi v. Rumsfeld and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [Duke Law backgrounders; JURIST news archive]. Clement began working for the Department of Justice in 2001 and was confirmed as solicitor general in 2005. Reuters has more.

Clement's announcement comes following the April resignation [press release, PDF] of US Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher, effective May 23. Fisher has served as the head of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Criminal Division [DOJ division website], which during her time as division head has concentrated primarily on fraud and corruption cases. Fisher attained the post through a recess appointment [JURIST report] by President Bush, because Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) [official website] had blocked the nomination after a government agent mentioned Fisher in an e-mail about alleged abusive Guantanamo interrogations.

[JURIST] US military judge Col. Ralph Kohlmann [JURIST news archive] set June 5 as the tentative date for the military commission's arraignment of the five men charged with plotting the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive] in an email to military defense attorneys Wednesday. The group, held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], includes the alleged mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. On Tuesday, the Pentagon approved [JURIST report] death penalty charges against the five defendants. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] expressed its outrage [ACLU press release] over the judge's announcement and also decried the setting of an arraignment date before the defendants were able to consult with their prospective lawyers. On Tuesday, the ACLU accused the US Department of Defense of stalling [JURIST report] the process of granting security clearances to civilian lawyers seeking to participate in the defense of Mohammed and other Guantanamo detainees. Reuters has more. The Miami Herald has additional coverage.

In April, Mohammed's military defense lawyer, US Navy Capt. Prescott Prince, expressed his concern [JURIST report] about the fairness of Mohammed's trial in an interview with CNN. The chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo Bay military commissions, US Army Col. Lawrence Morris, said that the trials of Mohammed and the other Sept. 11 suspects would be broadcast [JURIST report] live on closed-circuit television to several military bases so that the victims' families could watch. The men face death penalty charges, but US Attorney General Michael Mukasey [JURIST news archive] said in March that executing the Sept. 11 suspects would make them martyrs [JURIST report].

[JURIST] US Air Force Reserve Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann [official profile], a top Pentagon legal advisor on the Guantanamo military commission trials, said Wednesday that he will not resign [AP report] despite questions concerning his objectivity. Hartmann serves as legal advisor to Susan J. Crawford, the Convening Authority [backgrounder] for the military commissions, but last week was disqualified from participating [JURIST report] in the trial of detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] amidst concerns he was too closely associated with the prosecution.

Earlier this year former Guantanamo prosecutor Air Force Col. Morris D. Davis [official profile, PDF] said Hartmann had questioned the need for open trials [JURIST report] at Guantanamo and was upset with the slow pace of the proceedings begun by Davis. Last month, Davis testified at Hamdan's pre-trial hearing that Hartmann had pressured him to move forward with military commissions quickly out of political considerations [JURIST report].