[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [day call, PDF; merit briefs] Wednesday in three cases. In Salazar v. Buono [oral arguments transcript, PDF], the Court heard arguments on whether an individual has Article III [text] standing to bring a suit under the Establishment Clause [Cornell LII backgrounder] of the First Amendment challenging the display of a religious symbol on government land and if an Act of Congress directing the land be transferred to a private entity is a permissible accommodation. The dispute concerns a Latin cross on a rock outcropping in the Mojave National Preserve [official website]. The display of the cross on public property had already been found in violation of the Establishment Clause, so the government sought to transfer the portion of land on which the cross was located to a private entity. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled [opinion, PDF] that the transfer of the land is not a permissible accommodation. Counsel for the US Department of the Interior argued that the "Establishment Clause does not prohibit the sensible action Congress took in enacting Section 8121 and thereby divesting the Federal Government of the property at issue in this case." Counsel for the respondent argued:

that what the government has done here by selecting a particular transferee who has been given preferential access to the land in the past to the exclusion of others who wanted to erect other symbols, that the government is taking affirmative steps to permit, through this transfer statute, the display of the cross that they are enjoined from doing.

[JURIST] Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Tuesday granted [order, PDF; memorandum opinion, PDF] the government's motion to dismiss the petition for habeas corpus brought on behalf of Yemeni Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Idris Ahmad Abdu Qadir Idris [NYT profile]. The petition was filed in 2005 by the Federal Public Defenders [official website] with Guantanamo detainee Sami Muhyedin al Hajj acting as "next friend" for Idris. Lamberth emphasized in the opinion that Idris had repeatedly refused to meet with his lawyers and dismissed the petition for lack of authorization of representation. Lamberth wrote:

Contrary to petitioner's counsel's assertion, the Court finds that it is not necessary for counsel to meet with petitioner for petitioner to validly refuse to authorize counsel to pursue his action. By refusing to meet with counsel on at least five occasions, petitioner has unequivocally refused to authorize counsel to go forward with his case. Indeed, petitioner has had ample opportunity to change his mind and meet with counsel in order to authorize his case to proceed, but he has refrained from doing so.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Eric Holder [official profile] told reporters Tuesday that the Obama administration may miss its January deadline for closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Holder said that is concerned [AP report] with US lawmakers' claims that detainees are too dangerous to be housed on US soil. On Tuesday, the US Senate passed a defense spending bill [HR 3326 materials] that prohibits the Obama administration from transferring detainees to the US. That bill must now be reconciled with a similar bill passed by the US House of Representatives. Last week, the House approved a non-binding motion to instruct conferees [CSPAN backgrounder] to prohibit the transfer [JURIST report] of Guantanamo detainees to the US for any reason, including prosecution and incarceration. Holder said that despite the difficulties in transferring detainees, the administration is committed [LAT report] to closing the prison as soon as possible.

Holder's statements echo those of other top administration officials who said last month that the January deadline may be missed [JURIST report]. In early September, US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] general counsel Jeh Johnson [official profile] said that the administration remains committed [JURIST report] to closing the military detention facility by early next year. Officials are reportedly still considering creating a military-civilian prison facility that would house its own court at a site in Michigan, but local residents have strongly opposed [JURIST reports] the plan. Officials are also considering trying detainees in federal courts, with cases assigned to federal prosecutors [JURIST report] last month.

[JURIST] The Canadian Federal Court [official website] released a decision Tuesday ruling [judgment, PDF] that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service [official website] may monitor the communications of Canadian citizens abroad. The case arose from two Canadian nationals who had their communications abroad monitored after a judge issued an emergency warrant permitting the interception. Judge Richard Mosley, who also issued the emergency warrant, wrote:

Canada has given [the Communications Security Establishment] a mandate to collect foreign intelligence including information from communications and information technology systems and networks abroad. It is restricted as a matter of legislative policy from directing its activities against Canadians or any person within Canada, but it is not constrained from providing assistance to security and law enforcement agencies acting under lawful authority such as a judicial warrant. CSIS is authorized to collect threat-related information about Canadian persons and others and, as discussed above, is not subject to a territorial limitation.

[JURIST] The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official websites] on Tuesday announced [press release; fact sheet, PDF] a plan for improving immigration detention policies and facilities in response to recent widespread allegations of poor conditions and abuse. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano [official profile] explained that the emphasis is to move detained illegal immigrants [BBC report] awaiting deportation or processing out of the jails and criminal settings where they currently reside and into residential centers. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] called the announcement "encouraging," saying that the measures are expected to provide better access [ACLU press release] to immigration and social services for detainees and also prove less expensive than current housing situations. However, the ACLU also said that the announcement failed to address certain key problems such as providing due process to avoid unnecessary detentions:

It's encouraging that DHS is calling for improved immigration detention conditions that reflect the nature of the detained population. However, meaningful reform of the system must focus not only on the conditions under which immigrants are being detained, but on why they are being detained in the first place – often for prolonged periods of time – when other forms of supervised release would be sufficient to address the government's concerns, as well as the need for basic due process.

[JURIST] The head of the Honduran interim government Roberto Micheletti on Monday convened his council of ministers to repeal [La Prensa report, in Spanish] the executive decree [text, in Spanish] issued last week that suspended several constitutional rights. The repeal was scheduled to become official when published on Tuesday in the official newspaper, but ousted president Manuel Zelaya [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] warned on Tuesday that this had not yet taken place [Telesur report, in Spanish]. Micheletti had said last week that he would lift the restrictions [JURIST report] by the end of last week. After the decree, two media outlets were closed by the Honduran government under allegations that they were violating the terms of the decree. Micheletti said that those media outlets would have to turn to the courts for relief. Also on Monday, the Honduran Court of First Instance of Judicial Review derogated [La Prensa report, in Spanish] the executive decree issued by Zelaya in March that led to his subsequent ouster in June. The decree had authorized a poll to ask voters if they would be receptive to a vote on establishing a new constitution. A delegation from the Organization of American States (OAS) is due to arrive [AP report] in Honduras on Wednesday to aid in the Guaymuras Dialogue [La Prensa report, in Spanish], the current negotiations between Micheletti and Zelaya.

Zelaya has taken refuge at the Brazilian Embassy [official website, in Spanish] since returning to Honduras last month, despite calls [JURIST report] from Micheletti to hand him over under an arrest warrant [text and materials, PPT, in Spanish] issued by the Honduran Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] in June. Zelaya was ousted [JURIST report] on June 28 following a judicial order [press release, in Spanish] asserting that he had broken Honduran law by attempting to conduct a controversial referendum on constitutional reform [JURIST report] contrary to a Honduran Supreme Court ruling.

[JURIST] Former Costa Rican president Rafael Calderon [CIDOB profile, in Spanish] was convicted Monday on corruption charges and sentenced to five years in prison. Calderon was unanimously convicted [Inside Costa Rica report] by three judges at the Second Judicial Circuit Courts of Goicochea, who found him guilty of embezzling $520,000 [La Nacion report, in Spanish] during a nine-month period in his 1990 to 1994 term, a crime punishable under article 354 of the Costa Rican Penal Code [text, PDF in Spanish]. Only one person was exonerated in what has been called the Caja-Fischel scandal after the Social Security Fund [official website, in Spanish] from which the money came and the Fischel Corporation [corporate website, in Spanish], the company involved in the kickbacks. Also convicted for embezzlement were three former public officers including former president of the Social Security Fund Eliseo Vargas Garcia and two officers from the Fischel Corporation. Calderon has said that he will appeal his conviction, and maintains that he is innocent, alleging that the funds he received were for consulting services rendered. He had been planning to run for president once again in the February 2010 election, but has now withdrawn. The formal reading of the sentence is scheduled for November 3, and all parties will be able to appeal at that time. Pending any appeals, the order would proceed to the Cassation Court and any jail sentences would then be enforced.

Calderon was accused and arrested [JURIST report] in 2004 along with seven others on charges of embezzling and taking kickbacks that amount to an estimated $8 million from a $32 million Finnish loan for the purchase of medical equipment and $7.5 million from state funds. Calderon is the first Costa Rican president to be tried and convicted for corruption charges, but another former president is currently on trial for similar charges. Miguel Angel Rodriguez [OAS profile] is on trial for receiving kickbacks from purchases made by the Costa Rican national health system. Rodriguez served as president from 1998 to 2002, and pending charges from the current case against him forced him to resign [JURIST report] from his role as Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS).