[JURIST] The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon [official website] will begin work on March 1, according to the Tribunal's Registrar, Robin Vincent [official profile, PDF]. The March 1 start date for the court, established at the request of the Lebanese government after the February 14, 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive], will coincide with the scheduled arrival of prosecutor Daniel Bellemare [Ya Libnan profile] in The Hague. In a televised interview on Monday, Vincent said that in May, the Tribunal will ask the Lebanese government to transfer four generals [Daily Star report] being held on suspicion of involvement in Hariri's assassination to the court's custody.

The Special Tribunal will consist of 11 international and Lebanese judges, be based at The Hague and have a budget of $51 million for its first year [JURIST reports]. While no indictments have been issued, Bellemare, a Canadian prosecutor who headed the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) [authorizing resolution; UN materials], believes a criminal network was behind the plot [JURIST report]. The investigation has increased tensions between Lebanon and Syria as several IIIC reports have implicated Syrian officials in Hariri's death [JURIST report].

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] decided three cases Tuesday. The Court ruled 7-2 in United States v. Hayes [Cornell LII backgrounder; JURIST report] that a federal gun law [18 USC § 922(g)(9), text] that prohibits anyone convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from possessing a firearm does not require that a domestic relationship between an attacker and victim be a specific element of the crime. Hayes, a West Virginia man arrested for owning a firearm ten years after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor battery of his wife, argued that because the statute specifically mentioned domestic battery crimes, applying it to general crimes would unfairly subject an offender to additional criminal charges. Reversing an earlier decision [opinion, PDF] by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website], the Court held that Congress' intent in writing the law was mostly likely to focus on the wrongful actions of the offender rather than the particular charges of which they had been convicted:

Most sensibly read, then, §921(a)(33)(A) defines “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” as a misdemeanor offense that (1) “has, as an element, the use [of force],” and (2) is committed by a person who has a specified domestic relationship with the victim. To obtain a conviction in a §922(g)(9) prosecution, the Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim of the predicate offense was the defendant’s current or former spouse or was related to the defendant in another specified way. But that relationship, while it must be established, need not be denominated an element of the predicate offense.

[w]hile publicly administered payroll deductions for political purposes can enhance the unions’ exercise of First Amendment rights, Idaho is under no obligation to aid the unions in their political activities. And the State’s decision not to do so is not an abridgment of the unions’ speech; they are free to engage in such speech as they see fit. They simply are barred from enlisting the State in support of that endeavor.

[the IRA] limits the Secretary’s authority to taking land into trust for the purpose of providing land to members of a tribe that was under federal jurisdiction when the IRA was enacted in June 1934. Because the record in this case establishes that the Narragansett Tribe was not under federal jurisdiction when the IRA was enacted, the Secretary does not have the authority to take the parcel at issue into trust.

[JURIST] US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers on Monday asked the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official websites] to revisit a January decision in which a three-judge panel ruled [JURIST report] that indefinite civil commitment of "sexually dangerous" offenders was unconstitutional. The DOJ now seeks an en banc ruling [AP report] on the case, and is disputing the panel's holding [opinion, PDF] that civil commitment powers belong to the states. The government had unsuccessfully argued that federal power of civil commitment came from the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause [texts].

January's ruling invalidated part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act [text], which also established a national sex offender registry [JURIST report]. This month, a federal district court ruled the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 2006 (SORNA) [DOJ backgrounder], which imposes penalties for failing to register, was also unconstitutional [JURIST report] under the Commerce Clause.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Eric Holder [official website; JURIST news archive] visited the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison on Monday as part of a Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] review of the suspended military commission system established to try the detainees. During his visit, Holder reviewed cases against specific detainees, toured the facilities which had housed the military commission proceedings, and was joined by newly-appointed [DOJ release] Guantanamo Detainee Review Task Force (GDRTF) Executive Director Matthew Olsen. In a Friday release announcing Olsen's appointment and the creation of GDRTF, Holden said that Olsen will be responsible for reviewing each detainee's case and coordinating the government's actions accordingly:

As a leader of the Department’s National Security Division and 12-year career federal prosecutor, Mr. Olsen has the experience and judgment to lead the team’s evaluation of these individual cases... We’ve established a solid framework for the administration to make the right decision on each individual detainee -- decisions that will most effectively serve the interests of justice and the national security and foreign policy objectives of the United States.

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense Monday officially released its anticipated report [text, PDF; JURIST report] on detainee treatment at Guantanamo Bay in compliance with President Barack Obama's January 22 executive order [text] mandating the review [JURIST report]. As expected, the report concluded that conditions at the prison "are in conformity with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions." The report made several recommendations to improve conditions, however, including increasing detainee-to-detainee contact, better training for guards, easier detainee access to health care services and video recording of interrogations. Introducing the report at a Pentagon press conference [transcript], review head and Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Patrick Walsh [official profile; JURIST report], was careful to distinguish between possible past violations of the Geneva Conventions and the current situation at the facility: "In each case where there were violations the command took appropriate action, and there was discipline and accountability and that is what we are looking for here".

Walsh's report was immediately attacked by the Center for Constitutional Rights [advocacy website] which released its own report [text] detailing alleged violations at Guantanamo Bay and calling for an end to abusive practices. The review and the executive order are seen as significant steps towards fulfillment of Obama's pledge to shut down [JURIST report] Guantanamo Bay within a year of taking office.

[JURIST] The Swiss Green Party [official website, in French] has collected enough signatures to force a referendum [link to text, multilingual] on whether the country's service members should be required to keep their government-issued firearms at military compounds. The Green Party has denounced [position statement, in French] the current practice of permitting the storage of weapons at home:

An impressive number of military weapons lie unused in Swiss cellars. No usage, whether military or sports-related, justifies their presence in the midst of the population. Far from protecting the people, these weapons represent a risk for their safety. Easily available, they contribute to increased suicides and murders.

[JURIST] Former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky [defense website, JURIST news archive] was transferred to Moscow on Tuesday to face new charges [JURIST report] of embezzlement and theft, according to court officials. Platon Lebedev [defense website], Khodorkovsky's former partner at OAO Yukos Oil Co. [TIME backgrounder], was also transferred to Moscow from the Siberian region of Chita, where both men have been serving prison sentences following their convictions [JURIST report] for fraud and tax evasion in 2005. Critics have said that these charges are politically motivated due to Khodorkovsky's opposition of former Russian president Vladimir Putin [JURIST news archives]. Their transfer was ordered [JURIST report] last week by a judge for the District Court in Moscow and preliminary hearings [Moscow Times report] are set for March 3.

Khodorkovsky is currently serving an eight-year sentence, although he maintains that he is innocent. He requested early release last July, but his application was rejected [JURIST reports] in August because he disobeyed guards at the Krasnokamensk penal colony [Guardian backgrounder], refused to participate in a training program, and faced the possibility of additional charges. Khodorkovsky has appealed [JURIST report] that decision.

[JURIST] US District Judge Samuel Kent [official profile] pleaded guilty on Monday to obstruction of justice charges in connection with the alleged sexual harassment of his secretary and former case manager. The plea agreement included an admission that the sexual conduct was not consensual, in exchange for dropping five other counts of inappropriate sexual conduct with employees. The prosecution also agreed to limit Kent's prison sentence to three years, even though obstruction of justice is punishable by a sentence of up to 20 years. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] issued a statement [press release] describing the agreement in detail:

As part of his plea, Kent admitted that in both 2003 and 2007, he engaged in non-consensual sexual contact with Person A. He also admitted that he engaged in non-consensual contact with Person B from 2004 through at least 2005. According to court documents, when Person A filed a misconduct complaint against Kent, the Fifth Circuit appointed a committee to investigate whether Kent had engaged in unwanted sexual contact with Person A or any other individuals. Kent admitted that when he appeared before the committee in June 2007, he falsely testified about his conduct with Person B.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] announced [public notice, text] Monday that a long-awaited decision on a controversial arrest warrant [JURIST news archive] sought for Sudanese head of state Omar al-Bashir [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] would be rendered on March 4. The court said that "[c]onsidering that there have been numerous rumors over the past weeks on the possible date and outcome of this decision [and that]... this Chamber is deeply concerned about such rumors...", it would issue its ruling on the matter publicly. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that the warrant had been issued, leading court official to quickly issue a denial [JURIST report]. In an effort to promote Darfur peace talks, Egypt Sunday called on the ICC to postpone its decision [JURIST report] on the arrest warrant. Sudan and the African Union [JURIST reports] have also called for the proceedings against al-Bashir to be delayed.

The warrant ruling is in connection with preliminary charges [text, PDF] against al-Bashir filed by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in July 2008 alleging genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed in the Darfur region in violation of Articles 6, 7, and 8 of the Rome Statute [text]. Al-Bashir is accused of systematically targeting and purging the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa, three Arabic-speaking ethnic groups, under the pretext of counterinsurgency since 2003. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has already urged al-Bashir to comply [JURIST report] with the forthcoming ICC decision.

[JURIST] US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia [official profile, PDF] on Monday dissented [text, PDF] from the Court's denial of certiorari to a Chicago federal corruption case. Three former aides to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley [official profile] appealed their convictions on charges of mail fraud related to granting city jobs to political supporters. Appellants Robert Sorich, Timothy McCarthy, and Patrick Slattery asserted [Chicago Tribune report] that because they received no bribes or rewards for their actions, no federal offense was committed under the federal law [18 U.S.C. 1346, text] prohibiting employees from depriving citizens of "intangible services." Scalia commented on the loose wording of the federal corruption law, last updated in 1987, stating:

If the 'honest services' theory—broadly stated, that officeholders and employees owe a duty to act only in the best interests of their constituents and employers—is taken seriously and carried to its logical conclusion, presumably the statute also renders criminal a state legislator’s decision to vote for a bill because he expects it will curry favor with a small minority essential to his reelection; a mayor’s attempt to use the prestige of his office to obtain a restaurant table without a reservation; a public employee’s recommendation of his incompetent friend for a public contract; and any self-dealing by a corporate officer. Indeed, it would seemingly cover a salaried employee’s phoning in sick to go to a ball game.

[JURIST] Spanish Minister of Justice Mariano Fernandez Bermejo [official profile, in Spanish] resigned on Monday due to mounting pressure following allegations that he interfered with a judicial investigation during a hunting trip with Judge Baltasar Garzon [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The hunting expedition occurred just days before the launch of Garzon's investigation into corruption charges against the conservative Popular Party (PP) [official website, in Spanish], but Bermejo maintained that it was a mere coincidence that he and Gardon were on the trip together. Bermejo said Monday that he decided to resign [El Pais report, in Spanish] because he believed that it would be easier for someone else to do the job amid the controversy. Current Secretary for Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Francisco Caamano is expected to be named [El Pais report, in Spanish] as Bermejo's successor.

Prior to his resignation, Bermejo had been criticized for his handling of the judiciary strike [JURIST report] earlier this month. Judges from more than 30 Spanish provinces went on a one-day strike to demand the hiring of more judges and the adoption of electronic technology to decrease their workload. The effort, known as the October 8 Movement [El Mundo report, in Spanish; AJFV materials, in Spanish], was sparked by the fine a Huelva judge incurred in October 2008 [EcoDiario report, in Spanish] for delay in issuing an arrest order for a suspect who later killed a small child. Bermejo had said that he intended to propose a law limiting the ways in which judges may assert their rights, given their role in the government. The judges planned to challenge any such law.