[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] on Wednesday released the detailed judgment [text, PDF] on the July 2007 decision to reinstate Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry [official profile]. The July 2007 ruling came in response to the suspension of Chaudhry [JURIST report] from the court by then-president Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile] in March 2007. In the judgment explaining the 10-3 decision, the court stated:

[The March 2007 order] whereby Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was restrained by the President to act as Chief Justice of Pakistan and Judge of the Supreme Court ... is patently illegal as it has no backing of Constitution or any law conferring power on the President to pass such type of restraint order. Consequently, [the] subsequent ... appointed [of] Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal as Acting Chief Justice is also void... Resultantly, the composition of Supreme Judicial Council with Mr. Justice Javed lqbal as Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan, and its proceedings till 15th March, 2007 are ... unconstitutional.

[JURIST] The US Senate [official website] passed a health care reform bill [text, PDF] on Thursday in a 60 - 39 vote [roll call vote] that split down party lines. The legislation would expand affordable access to health care to more than 30 million Americans and overhaul the private health insurance system [Washington Post report]. Senate Republicans have vowed to continue to fight and amend the bill, which they claim is too expensive and violates personal rights [NYT report] by requiring people to have health insurance. President Barack Obama stated [press release]:

What makes it so important is not just its cost savings or its deficit reductions. It's the impact reform will have on Americans who no longer have to go without a checkup or prescriptions that they need because they can't afford them, on families who no longer have to worry that a single illness will send them into financial ruin, and on businesses that will no longer face exorbitant insurance rates that hamper their competitiveness. It's the difference reform will make in the lives of the American people.

[JURIST] The military prison at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] may have to remain open until 2011 to allow an Illinois prison time to prepare for the arrival of the detainees, according to Wednesday reports [AP report]. A spokesperson for Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) [official website] said that the government's plan to purchase [JURIST report] the Thomson Correctional Center [official profile] in Illinois and refit it will take months to complete, rendering President Barack Obama's original promise to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by January 22, 2010, impossible. In addition, Congress would have to change a law [JURIST report] that prevents Guantanamo detainees from being transferred to the US except for prosecution, and pass a bill approving funding for the project. There have been protests from both sides of the aisle and from Illinois residents against bringing the remaining detainees, who number under 200, to the prison. The commission that will recommend to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn [official website] whether to sell the prison to the federal government will not make a decision until the middle of January.

Attorney General Eric Holder has said that buying the facility in Illinois will speed the closure of Guantanamo Bay [JURIST report], suggesting that the facility could be closed as early as next fall. In October, Holder announced that the Obama administration may miss its January deadline for closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, echoing prior statements [JURIST reports] by top administration officials. US President Barack Obama originally issued the executive order to close Guantanamo within a year [JURIST report] last January 22, two days after taking office.