[JURIST] Enforcement of various civil rights laws decreased during the Bush administration, according to a report [text, PDF; summary] released Thursday by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) [official website]. The GAO studied the activities of the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official websites] between 2001 and 2007. According to the report, DOJ lawsuits to enforce laws prohibiting race or sex discrimination in employment fell [NYT report] from about 11 per year under the Clinton administration to about 6 per year under the Bush administration. There was also a drop in the number of cases brought under the Voting Rights Act from more than four cases a year under Clinton to fewer than two cases a year under Bush. The US House of Representatives held a hearing [materials; recorded video] Thursday on oversight of the Civil Rights Division, at which GAO Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues Eileen Regen Larence recommended [testimony, PDF]:

that to strengthen the Division's ability to manage and report on the four sections' enforcement efforts, the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Division, among other things, (1) require sections to record data on protected class and subject in the Division's case management system in order to facilitate reporting of this information to Congress, and (2) as the Division considers options to address its case management system needs, determine how sections should be required to record data on the reasons for closing matters in the system in order to be able to systematically assess and take actions to address issues identified.

[JURIST] JURIST's Paper Chase legal news service has been named as one of the "100 best Web sites by lawyers, for lawyers" as chosen by the editors of the ABA Journal, the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association. Ranking Paper Chase among their top 12 legal news websites, the ABA Journal Third Annual Blawg 100 applauded JURIST's format of linking readers to primary source documents:

Stories here never lack for sources, always linking to original reports, legal documents and information on the people making news. Check out this site for frequent updates on the courts’ treatment of Guantanamo detainees.

[JURIST] The State of Texas executed death row inmate Bobby Wayne Woods [TDCJ profile] by lethal injection Thursday, over the objections of lawyers who argued Woods was mentally impaired and thus could not be executed under federal law. Defense lawyers argued that Woods's IQ fell below 70, a number used generally as a threshold for mental retardation. The Texas Court of Appeals rejected [opinion, PDF] this argument, citing evidence that Woods' IQ was as high as 86. Earlier this week, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles [official website] voted against granting Woods clemency. The US Supreme Court [official website] also denied [order, PDF] Woods's lawyers' request [docket] to halt the execution.

Woods was convicted of breaking into his former girlfriend's house in 1997 and sexually assaulting, abducting, and murdering her 11-year-old daughter. Woods was convicted and sentenced to death in 1998. Despite repeated appeals, Woods was unsuccessful in having his sentence permanently stayed. Mentally retarded persons cannot be executed under the US Supreme Court's 2002 ruling in Atkins v. Virginia [opinion]. Texas is one of 37 states that maintains the death penalty [TDCJ backgrounder; JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] Serbia is cooperating with the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive], according to a report [text, PDF] presented [statement, PDF] Thursday to the UN Security Council [official website] by Chief War Crimes Prosecutor Serge Brammertz [official profile]. Brammertz noted the need to catch two remaining fugitives, Ratko Mladic [ICTY materials; amended indictment, PDF] and Goran Hadzic [ICTY materials; indictment], but praised Serbia for the progress it has made:

Since the last briefing to the Council, Serbia's cooperation with my Office has continued to progress. Prosecution requests to access documents and archives are being dealt with more expeditiously and effectively. It is important that the authorities continue to provide this level of assistance, which will remain crucial during current and future trial and appeals work.

[JURIST] Myanmar's Supreme Court has agreed to consider an appeal by opposition pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] against the 18-month extension of her house arrest, officials said Friday. Suu Kyi's lawyers filed the appeal last month after a lower court rejected [JURIST reports] an earlier appeal. A judge will hold a preliminary hearing [NYT report] on December 21 to decide whether the appeal will be considered by the full court. If the judge rejects her appeal at that point, Suu Kyi may request a special leave to appeal, which would be heard by the chief justice.

The extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest stems from an August conviction [JURIST report] for violating state security laws by allowing American John Yettaw to stay in her home after he swam across a lake to get there. Yettaw, who was sentenced to seven years in prison with four years of hard labor, was released [JURIST report] in August after negotiations with US Senator Jim Webb (D-VA). Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention, and her latest conviction has been condemned [BBC report] by many world leaders and has given rise to international sanctions [JURIST report] against Myanmar's junta and members of the judiciary.

[JURIST] A US military judge ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that the US government may partially amend the charges against Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Ibrahim Ahmed al Qosi [DOD materials] by changing his jurisdictional basis, but may not include four additional years of alleged activities under the charges. In this first application of the Military Commissions Act of 2009 [text, PDF] to pending military trials cases, Air Force Lt. Col. Nancy Paul allowed the government to amend charges [charge sheet, PDF] against al Qosi as an "unprivileged enemy belligerent," in substitution of "unlawful enemy combatant." Paul ruled that the remaining changes pertaining to an additional period between 1992 and 1996 in which al Qosi allegedly managed Osama bin Laden's payroll:

are essentially new and additional offenses and contain substantial matters not fairly included in those previously referred. Additionally, significantly changing the charges and specifications ... brings unfair surprise to the Accused.

a pretrial finding by the military judge by a preponderance of the evidence that the Accused is an alien unprivileged enemy belligerent does not eliminate the requirement for the Commission members to find beyond reasonable doubt the Accused's status if an element of the offense.