[JURIST] Hans von Spakovsky, nominated by President Bush to serve on the six-member US Federal Election Commission (FEC) [official website], withdrew his name from consideration for the appointment Friday. The withdrawal ends a two-and-a-half-year stalemate between the administration and Senate Democrats. The former Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights was named [WH press release] to the FEC by President Bush in January 2006, using a recess appointment [US Senate backgrounder]. In his withdrawal letter [PDF text], von Spakovsky wrote that "it is past time that the FEC was reconstituted." Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) [official website], the Senate majority leader, applauded [press release] von Spakovsky's withdrawal, saying his record on voters' rights while at the US Department of Justice, made him unfit to serve on the FEC.

Von Spakovsky had been included on the most recent list [JURIST report] of nominations to the FEC submitted by the President for Senate approval in early May. Also included on that list were Cynthia L. Bauerly, former legislative director for Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) [official website]; Donald F. McGahn, former counsel for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) [official website]; and former White House official Caroline C. Hunter. The list did not include current FEC Chairman David Mason [official profile], whose tenure has also been strongly opposed by Democrats. Until the new nominees are approved, the commission will not have the quorum required to conduct business, presenting a potentially significant problem in the face of the upcoming 2008 Presidential election.

[JURIST] US military defense lawyers filed a motion Friday to dismiss charges against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], the alleged director of the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive], and his four co-conspirators. The motion alleges that the charges were unduly influenced by "overreaching" on the part of US Air Force Reserve Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann [Air Force profile], who was disqualified [JURIST report] last week from participating in a military commission trial. Hartmann's neutrality and objectivity concerning the trials were questioned because of his close association with the prosecution. Reuters has more. The Los Angeles Times has additional coverage.

Mohammed's military defense lawyer, US Navy Capt. Prescott Prince, expressed concern [JURIST report] about the fairness of Mohammed's trial in an April interview with CNN. The chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] 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] The Texas Border Coalition [advocacy website], a group of Texan officials and business owners, filed a class action lawsuit [complaint, PDF] Friday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] to enjoin the Department of Homeland Security from constructing a fence on the US-Mexico border. The lawsuit claims that government officials disobeyed a clause in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 [text], which requires the government to hold fair negotiation with landowners when seeking access to border land. The complaint, which specifically names US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff [official profile] and other government officials, alleges that some smaller landowners accepted as little as $100 for access to their land and were not apprised of their legal rights during the negotiation process, while the land of wealthier owners was purposefully avoided. AP has more. The Houston Chronicle has local coverage.

In order to complete 353 additional miles of physical barriers along the border [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive] by the end of the year, bringing the total to 670 miles, Chertoff has also invoked a number of legal waivers [JURIST report] authorized under Title I sec. 102 of the Real ID Act [PDF text], allowing the government to circumvent over 30 local and environmental laws which had blocked construction. In October 2007, Chertoff used a waiver [JURIST report] to override an October federal district court ruling that had halted fence construction in Arizona on environmental grounds.

[JURIST] Pakistani lawyers announced plans Saturday to hold large protests in June unless the new government fulfills a pledge to reinstate Supreme Court judges ousted [JURIST report] last year by President Pervez Musharraf. Aitzaz Ahsan [JURIST news archive], President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, told reporters in Lahore that lawyers would hold a "long march" from city to city in Pakistan. Further protests could rekindle the unrest [JURIST report] seen in April, when rioting resulted in at least 11 deaths. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

The new coalition government formed by the Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party websites] vowed in February to work together to reinstate judges and establish a fully independent judiciary [JURIST reports]. The government nonetheless failed to meet a self-imposed deadline to reinstate the judges, with the parties reaching an impasse [JURIST report] after talks in London last week failed to produce an agreement on how to proceed.

[JURIST] The US plans to build a new military detention facility in Afghanistan [JURIST news archive] as a replacement for its current make-shift prison at Bagram Air Base [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive], the New York Times reported [NYT report] Saturday. The $60-million-dollar, 40-acre facility will have the capacity to hold as many as 1,100 prisoners, and is intended to provide more humane living conditions [JURIST report] for the more than 600 detainees the US currently holds in the country. According to the Times, the revelation signals a significant departure from previous statements made by the Bush administration [White House website], which had indicated an intention to scale back US facilities in Afghanistan by either transferring detainees to Afghan custody or releasing lower-risk prisoners. The Times also reported that the prohibition on transferring detainees to Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], and officials' reluctance to turn over the most dangerous prisoners to special Afghan courts [JURIST report] led to the need for a more permanent institution. AFP has more.

The current facility, officially know as the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, was set up in 2002 to temporarily hold captured combatants, but has since become the primary detainee processing center in the country, holding many prisoners for years. The air base became infamous later that year when two detainees died [JURIST news archive] after being abused by US soldiers.

[JURIST] Amnesty International welcomed [advocacy press release] Saturday the recently-announced public inquiry [MOD press release; JURIST report] into the death of Baha Mousa [BBC report; JURIST news archive], an Iraqi hotel receptionist who died in British military custody in 2003. The organization called the inquiry "long overdue" but expressed concern that the investigation could lack impartiality if governed by a 2005 UK law [text] allowing the Secretary of State for Defence to conduct such inquiries. BBC has more.

Mousa's death allegedly resulted from abuse by the British troops who had arrested him and nine other Iraqis in a Basra hotel where weapons and suspected bomb-making materials were found. The nine other Iraqis alleged that they were tortured by British soldiers and filed a suit for damages against the MOD. Seven soldiers faced court-martial [BBC timeline] in connection with Mousa's death, but only Corporal David Payne received a jail sentence after pleading guilty [JURIST reports] to a charge of inhumane treatment. All other charges were dismissed [JURIST report].

[JURIST] A French court released a bank account belonging to Russian news agency RIA Novosti [media website] Friday. The account was frozen in January [JURIST report], along with other accounts belonging to several Russian state organizations. The court ruled that the state news agency was a separate entity from the Russian government and should not be liable for state debts. The court ordered Switzerland's Compagnie Noga d'Importation et d'Exportation, SA (Noga), which had pressed for the freezing of assets, to pay 15,000 euros in compensation. RIA Novosti has more.

Last week, another French court unfroze a Russia Central Bank account [RIA Novosti report] for similar reasons. The January decision to disable the accounts stemmed from Noga's claim over a food-for-oil contract formed between Noga and Russia in 1991-1992, just after the breakup of the Soviet Union.