[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of Romania [official website, in Romanian] on Friday ordered a recount [press release, PDF; in Romanian] of void ballots from the country's disputed presidential election. After the first round of elections in November produced no clear winner, incumbent Traian Basescu [official website, in Romanian] and Social Democrat Mircea Geoana [campaign website, in Romanian] faced a runoff election on Sunday. Both candidates declared victory [BBC report] Sunday night, but official results showed that Basescu had won by a mere 70,000 votes, garnering 50.3 percent of the total votes. The court order requires election officials to determine whether 138,000 ballots were improperly declared void, which could potentially sway the election in favor of Geoana. Although Geoana supporters have accused Basescu of election fraud, some analysts believe that the court will not ultimately overturn [AP report] the election results.

Many voters had hoped that the election would help repair Romania's image as the most corrupt member of the European Union (EU). In February, the European Commission (EC) [official website] reported [text, PDF] that Romania has not made sufficient progress in its anti-corruption campaign since its accession [JURIST reports] to the European Union (EU) two years ago. In June 2007, the EC issued a progress report [JURIST report], saying that Romania needed to do more to achieve judicial reform, and combat corruption and organized crime. In July 2008, Romania was again criticized [EU report] for its failure to address the same issues.

[JURIST] Canada's federal opposition parties combined Thursday to pass an unusual measure seeking to compel the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to release confidential records concerning the treatment of detainees captured by Canadian troops in Afghanistan. In an effort to shed light on alleged prisoner abuse by Afghans after receiving prisoners handed over to them by Canadian forces, the Liberals, the New Democratic Party [party websites], and the Bloc Quebecois [party website, French] endorsed a Commons motion [CP report] that calls for the release of thousands of uncensored documents. The minority Conservative government immediately voiced concern [Globe and Mail report] that the release of such information could be helpful to the enemy, jeopardize national security, and is contrary to national secrecy laws. The opposition has referenced Parliament's absolute right to request the government to produce uncensored documents, as established by the Canadian Constitution [text]. If Harper's minority government chooses to ignore the motion, as has been suggested, the opposition parties could proceed with a vote to find the government in contempt, and possibly create a situation in which the courts will be asked to define the limits of parliamentary privilege.

This latest issue involving detainee treatment came up last month after Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin testified [JURIST report] before a Commons committee that all enemy combatants captured in 2006 and 2007 by Canadian forces were likely tortured upon their transfer to Afghan authorities. Earlier this month, the Canadian government released [JURIST report] more than 40 redacted e-mails [text, PDF] sent by Colvin to then-foreign minister Peter MacKay [official profile] raising concerns about the torture of transferred detainees. The e-mails, which Colvin alleges were sent in violation [Montreal Gazette report] of instructions to avoid written communication, were requested by the House of Commons Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan [official website] in order to corroborate the testimony Colvin gave to the committee. Throughout the spring of 2006, Colvin relayed allegations made by the International Committee of the Red Cross [official website] that Afghan authorities were routinely torturing detainees, and that by refusing information requests and failing to provide timely notice of transfer to Afghan custody, the Canadian military was hindering efforts to track Afghan detainees and monitor their treatment. Peter Tinsley, Chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) [official website], also released redacted copies of the e-mails Wednesday at the request of Amnesty International (AI) and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) [advocacy websites] after finding that the contents had already been selectively leaked [Toronto Star report] to media organizations.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives [official website] voted 223-202 [roll call vote] Friday to approve a bill [HR 4173 materials] that would create a consumer financial protection agency and strengthen oversight of the financial industry. The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 [materials] would also create a $150 billion industry-backed fund for the dismantling of large failed financial firms and outlaw many abusive and predatory lending practices. The vote came after the House rejected several proposed amendments [Bloomberg report], including one that would have created a council of regulators to oversee financial consumer protections instead of the single agency, which is opposed by the banking industry. The Senate will now consider similar legislation, a version of which was introduced [JURIST report] by Senate Banking Committee [official website] chair Chris Dodd (D-CT) [official website] last month.

The US House Financial Services Committee [official website] approved a bill [JURIST report] to create a consumer financial protection agency in October. The committee passed the legislation after originally delaying [JURIST report] it at the behest of financial industry leaders in July. The creation of the agency is a key step in the Obama administration's plans to tighten financial industry regulations. The administration originally proposed a broad series of financial regulatory reforms [press release] in June, calling [JURIST report] for the creation of a consumer financial protection agency, among other reforms.

[JURIST] Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin [official website, in Russian] said Thursday that last week's nightclub fire in Perm [BBC report] exposed widespread corruption [press release, in Russian; video, in Russian] among bureaucrats. At a cabinet meeting, Putin said that documents were falsified and officials were bribed to look the other way on safety violations. Putin said, "[t]his obviously reflects all the vices of our bureaucracy: its incompetence, its corruptness, its merger with business in areas where it is not needed, where it should not be allowed." Putin called for greater oversight of officials in order to end corruption. Putin's statement echoes similar remarks by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev [official website, in Russian] in which he called for stricter punishment [AP report] for those who violate fire safety laws. Another victim died Friday, bringing the death toll to 142 [RIA Novosti report], with 88 remaining hospitalized. Perm's regional administration resigned [Moscow Times report] Wednesday.

Last month, Transparency International (TI) [advocacy website] ranked Russia 146th out of 180 countries in its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) [text; JURIST report]. In January, First Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buksman [official profile] reported that corruption cases are increasing [JURIST report] in Russia and now account for about 1.5 percent of recorded crimes there. Last December, Medvedev signed anti-corruption legislation [JURIST report] imposing income reporting requirements on public officials and restricting gifts. Medvedev had urged anti-corruption measures since taking office [JURIST reports] in May 2008. In June 2008, rights group Freedom House [advocacy website] released a report finding that corruption and repression were increasingly threatening legal rights [JURIST report] in former Soviet republics like Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, with Russia's court system in particular showing significant deterioration of the rule of law.

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] approved a bill Thursday that would protect journalists' abilities to shield sources in federal court proceedings. Under the Free Flow of Information Act [S 448 materials], which was approved 14-5, the federal government would not be able compel a journalist to produce protected documents or sources unless the government shows it has exhausted other means of obtaining the information, that the information sought is vital to the resolution of the case, and that compelling the production of the document or source is in the public interest. The bill contains exceptions to these protections for cases in which the journalist has witnessed a crime or where the information is necessary to stop, prevent, or mitigate a specific death, kidnapping, or case of serious bodily harm. The bill also provides an exception for the government when it can show that national security interests are at stake. Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) [official website], one of the bill's co-sponsors, praised the legislation [press release], saying it "creates a fair standard to protect the public interest, journalists, the news media, bloggers, prosecutors and litigants." If the Senate approves the bill, it must be reconciled with a similar House bill before passing into law.

The version of the bill passed Thursday represents a compromise [JURIST report] reached in October among the Obama administration, lawmakers, and news organizations. In September, the Obama administration informed Congress that it objected [JURIST report] to the proposed legislation based on national security concerns. The US House of Representatives passed the Free Flow of Information Act in late March, days after it was voted out of the House Judiciary Committee [JURIST reports]. The House passed a similar bill in 2007, but it was never voted on by the full Senate, despite passing the Judiciary Committee by a 15-2 vote [JURIST reports]. The bill was first proposed in response to the jail sentence given to Judith Miller, a journalist who would not reveal who provided her with the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame [JURIST news archive]. Other journalists have also faced contempt charges for refusing to reveal sources. In November, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated [JURIST report] a contempt order [JURIST report] against former USA Today reporter Toni Locy [JURIST news archive], who had refused to reveal government sources for a series of articles she wrote about the 2001 anthrax attacks [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] A California judge on Thursday tentatively ruled [opinion, PDF] that a 2003 Colorado River water use agreement is invalid. The agreement settled a dispute over how to divide the Colorado River between California and six other states: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Under the agreement, California would significantly reduce the amount of water diverted from farms to California cities over the course of 75 years. Judge Roland Candee of the Sacramento County Superior Court [official website] tentatively found that the agreement was invalid because the state of California agreed to pay to restore the Salton Sea in southeastern California without putting a limit on spending. Candee wrote:

The focus under the facts of these coordinated proceedings is on whether "the Contracts, and each and every portion of such Contracts, are valid, legal and binding and are ... in conformity with all applicable provisions of law ..." The question is, accordingly, whether the State obligation ... withstands judicial scrutiny under a contract validation action standard. ... The answer again must be "no". To hold otherwise would point out, for all to see, a way to contract around the constitutional debt prohibition and the constitutional requirement for an appropriation before expenditure found in our Constitution.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that a lawsuit seeking to declare parts of the Patriot Act [JURIST news archive] unconstitutional must be dismissed for lack of standing. Brandon Mayfield [JURIST news archive], an attorney arrested [JURIST report] in 2004 based on FBI error in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], had argued that parts of the Patriot Act amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) violated the Fourth Amendment [text]. Specifically, Mayfield alleged that FISA provisions allowing the government use electronic surveillance [50 USC § 1804] and physically search [50 USC § 1823] his home without probable cause violated his Fourth Amendment rights. In reversing a lower court decision [opinion, PDF; JURIST report], the court refused to rule on the merits of the case, finding that Mayfield could not pursue his claim because a settlement [text, PDF; JURIST report] between Mayfield and the Government expressly limited Mayfield's possible relief to a declaratory judgment that the provisions violated the Fourth Amendment. The court held:

[I]n light of the limited remedy available to Mayfield, he does not have standing to pursue his Fourth Amendment claim because his injuries already have been substantially redressed by the settlement agreement, and a declaratory judgment would not likely impact him or his family.

[JURIST] The Ugandan Parliament [official website] voted unanimously Thursday to outlaw [press release] female genital mutilation (FGM) [UN backgrounder]. Under the new legislation [AFP report], anyone who conducts the procedure faces a 10-year prison sentence, and anyone convicted of aggravated FGM faces life imprisonment. Aggravated FGM would include situations where the woman dies, is disabled, or is infected with HIV/AIDS. Human rights groups have welcomed the legislation [BBC report] but have also urged education campaigns to ensure that the practice is stopped. The bill must now be signed by Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni [official profile].

FGM is not widely practiced in Uganda but does occasionally occur in the northeastern part of the country. According to the UN, approximately 2 million girls undergo FGM every year, with Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, and the Sudan accounting for 75 percent of all cases. Consequences can include prolonged bleeding, infection, infertility, and death. In 2007, the UN passed a resolution [materials] calling for an end to the practice.