Limits on First Amendment [text] freedom of speech in the context of campaign finance [JURIST news archive] remains an area of much debate. In March, the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that the Republican National Committee (RNC) [committee website] cannot raise "soft money" to use in state elections. In January, the Supreme Court decided in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission [Cornell LII backgrounder] to ease restrictions on political campaign spending [JURIST report] by corporations. US President Barack Obama criticized the ruling and called for new campaign finance legislation [JURIST reports] which would set low limits on dollar contributions to federal candidates, enhance disclosure rules that apply to lobbyists and earmark requests, and close the loopholes opened by Citizens United pertaining to corporate political campaign spending.

The events unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico are devastating and will be enduring. What we are seeing will transform the regulation of deep water drilling worldwide. It's my responsibility to make sure that the oil and gas industry maintains the highest practices here in UK waters...It's clear that our safety and environmental regulatory regime is fit for purpose. It is already among the most robust in the world and the industry's record in the North Sea is strong. But the Deepwater Horizon gives us pause for thought and, given the beginning of exploration in deeper waters West of Shetland, there is every reason to increase our vigilance.

Huhne's announcement follows a similar press conference held last month by US President Barack Obama [official website] to announce new regulations to mitigate future oil spill disasters [JURIST report] and the current plan of action for resolving the crisis created by the BP oil spill. The US government will be suspending several offshore drilling activities including exploration of platform locations in Alaska, pending lease sales in the Gulf and Virginia, and the drilling of 33 deepwater exploratory wells in the Gulf. The government will also suspend the issuance of new permits to drill deepwater wells for six months. Obama stated that increased government regulation in the oil industry was necessary to alter the "cozy and sometimes corrupt" relationship it has built with federal regulators, specifically the Minerals Management Service (MMS) [official website]. The president admitted that even though Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar [official profile] has worked hard to reform the once notoriously corrupt MMS, more action is necessary to ameliorate that agency's malfeasance. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a result of an oil well blowout that caused an explosion 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf. The BP oil spill has now surpassed the Exxon Valdez [JURIST news archive] as the worst oil spill in US history.

In March, following an 11-month investigation with CICIG, Guatemalan authorities arrested two high-ranking police officials [JURIST report] tasked with leading the country's war on drugs on charges of corruption and drug trafficking. Also in March, the US State Department [official website] released its 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, which highlighted Guatemala as a key player in the Latin American drug trade [text, PDF]. Corruption among high-ranking officials was cited as one of the country's biggest problems. The Congress of Guatemala [official website, in Spanish] voted to create CICIG [JURIST report] in 2007 in order to investigate organized crime and official corruption.

The September indictment came two weeks after Chen was sentenced to life in prison [JURIST report] on corruption charges. Chen sought to apply US law in the case, claiming that former colonial power Japan never transferred power over Taiwan to its current government. In October, Taiwan's Constitutional Court [official website, in Chinese] dismissed an appeal [JURIST report] in which Chen claimed his constitutional rights were breached after the judges in his trial were replaced. In August, Chen filed suit [JURIST report] against the judges, accusing them of illegally prolonging his detention. Some legal experts believe that the allegations are evidence that Taiwan needs more accountability reforms [JURIST comment].

The transfers are a part of the strategy intended to finish [completion strategy text, PDF] the court's trial work by 2011. There are currently 24 cases in progress, and two others await trial. In June 2009, Ngoga told the UN Security Council [JURIST report] that the decisions by the ICTR not to transfer pending cases to Rwandan jurisdiction, including genocide suspects Jean-Baptiste Gatete [TrialWatch profile; JURIST report] and Yussuf Munyakazi [case materials; JURIST report] undermines his country's judicial reforms and hinders national reconciliation. Ngoga said that "[e]rroneous, factually incorrect assessments" and occasional "deliberate misrepresentations" of the country's human rights situation by advocacy organizations like Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] have also had a negative effect [New Times report] on the country's progress. Emphasizing that Rwanda has continued to cooperate with the tribunal, Ngoga expressed the country's desire to have the cases transferred to Rwandan jurisdiction at the completion of the ICTR's mandate. The ICTR was established to try genocide suspects for crimes occurring during the 1994 Rwandan conflict between Hutus and Tutsis in which approximately 800,000 people, primarily Tutsis, died.

Within Chinese territory the Internet is under the jurisdiction of Chinese sovereignty. The Internet sovereignty of China should be respected and protected. ... National situations and cultural traditions differ among countries, and so concern about Internet security also differs. Concerns about Internet security of different countries should be fully respected. We should seek common ground and reserve differences, promote development through exchanges, and jointly protect international Internet security.

In March, Google [corporate website] officially stopped censoring search results [JURIST report] to Chinese users after a legal impasse was reached between the Internet giant and the Chinese government. Google initially threatened to discontinue operations in China [JURIST report] in January due to the country's overarching Internet censorship. Google's action was in response to a cyber attack on its Gmail service in December, which targeted the e-mail accounts of human rights activists in China and drew the ire of rights groups around the world. Google indicated that it would work with the Chinese government to find a way to allow an, "unfiltered search engine within the law as well," but also noted that if an agreement cannot be reached, it would close its offices there and shut down its Google.cn website. China responded [JURIST report] by reiterating its commitment to open Internet, but stressed that international Internet companies must follow Chinese law.

The US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] has ruled in favor of the government in 13 habeas corpus cases [JURIST news archive], while Guantanamo detainees have prevailed in 36 cases. Last month, the district court ordered the release [JURIST report] of Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohammed Hassen [NYT profile]. Hassen had been initially detained in March 2002 following a raid in Faisalabad by Pakistani security forces. He has maintained throughout his detention that he had traveled to Pakistan to study the Qur'an [text] at Salafi University and had no knowledge of al Qaeda prior to his detention. The court issued another ruling in May ordering the release [JURIST report] of Russian Guantanamo detainee Ravil Mingazov [NYT profile]. Mingazov, a former ballet dancer, was captured in Pakistan in 2002 [Miami Herald report] and turned over to US authorities. The Pentagon claimed he was captured in a raid on a suspected terrorist safe house and that he had attended a terror training camp, but Mingazov denied the claims. Mingazov is seeking release to a country other than Russia, after Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported in 2007 that seven former Guantanamo detainees suffered abuse and torture [JURIST report] at the hands of Russian law enforcement agencies following their release from US custody in 2004.

The agreement is currently before the parliament due to a court ruling in January, when the Swiss Federal Administrative Court [official website, in French] ruled [JURIST report] that an American taxpayer's financial information at UBS may not be disclosed to the IRS pursuant to the August 2009 agreement [JURIST report]. The agreement was found to conflict with a previous treaty, requiring the approval of parliament. Also in January, the Swiss Federal Administrative Court ruled [JURIST report] that the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority [official website, in German] violated the law in February 2009 when it ordered UBS to disclose information to the US on more than 250 of the bank's clients without the authority to do so. In September, the US and Switzerland signed a treaty [JURIST report] that would increase the amount of information shared between the two nations on would-be tax evaders. The agreement came one month after a Swiss banker and lawyer were indicted in US federal court [JURIST report] for helping clients hide assets. In March 2009, the Swiss announced their intention to adopt a more stringent definition [JURIST report] of tax evasion and to work with other countries to investigate such claims.

If the government prevails and Congress may use the Commerce Clause to order Americans to buy private health insurance, then Congress will have been granted a virtually unlimited power to order you to buy anything. That would amount to the end of federalism and our more than 220 years of constitutional government.

The Obama administration is also facing several other health care lawsuits. Last month, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) [association website], a small business lobby group, joined a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; JURIST report] challenging the constitutionality of the health care reform law. The NFIB joined 20 states in a legal battle that began in March when a complaint seeking injunction and declaratory relief was filed [JURIST reports] in a Florida federal court. Also last month, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] filed [JURIST report] its first response [brief text] to one of the lawsuits challenging the new health care law. The suit [complaint, PDF], filed in March by conservative public interest group the Thomas More Law Center [advocacy website] on the same day President Barack Obama signed the bill into law [JURIST report], argues that the mandate that all individuals carry health insurance is unconstitutional.

US mining companies have also been facing accusations of human rights abuses and environmental hazard creation. In August, an indigenous tribe in Indonesia filed a $30 million lawsuit [JURIST report] against a subsidiary of US mining company Freeport-McRoRan Copper & Gold [corporate website] for numerous environmental and human rights violations. The Amungme people are suing PT Freeport [corporate website, in Indonesian] for damages to their ancestral lands [Jakarta Globe report] in the Papua province, claiming that they are the rightful owners of the 2.6 million hectares on which the mine is located because the 1967 contract between the Indonesian government and Freeport was executed without their approval. The plaintiffs also allege that they were promised an annual fee of $1 million that was never received. The South Jakarta District Court appointed a judge to seek a mediated settlement between the parties.

In April, a military appeals court reversed [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] Hutchins's conviction, citing lack of a fair trial. In an 8-1 decision, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals [official website] ruled that the departure of one of Hutchins's primary attorneys shortly before the court-martial [JURIST news archive] began resulted in an unfair trial. The ruling made it possible for Hutchins to be restored to his prior rank, which was reduced to private following his conviction. Hutchins was serving an 11-year sentence, reduced from 15 years [JURIST report]. He was convicted in 2007 of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement, and larceny. Six Marines pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to charges related to their roles in the incident, which involved Awad being removed from his residence and killed, then arranged with a shovel and firearm to appear as if he were planting an improvised explosive device.

Earlier this week, the Israeli ambassador to the US rejected [JURIST report] the idea of an international inquiry into the flotilla attack. The proposal, put forth by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website], would have established a panel composed of representatives from Israel, Turkey, and other unnamed countries. Netanyahu was reported to have expressed reservations [Haaretz report] regarding an international inquiry due to the precedent it would set. Last week, the UN Human Rights Council [official website] condemned [JURIST report] Israel's raid on the ships and initiated an independent investigation into possible violations of international law. Additionally, the UN Security Council [official website] called [JURIST report] for a "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation" into the raid. The Turkish ship on which the violence occurred was one of six organized by the Free Gaza Movement [advocacy website] to carry protesters and humanitarian supplies to the isolated Palestinian enclave. The Gaza naval blockade began in 2007 after Hamas [CFR backgrounder] forcibly expelled their chief rival, Fatah [CFR backgrounder] from Gaza.

Last month, an Iraqi refugee won a suit [BBC report] against the UK Home Office [official website] in which he claimed that he was threatened illegally with deportation to Iraq after being accused of committing terrorist activities. The UK High Court found that the man's arrest and detention were illegal. The UK government also announced last month that it will review [JURIST report] the country's Human Rights Act [BBC backgrounder] after two Pakistani terror suspects successfully avoided deportation due to concerns for their safety. Certain regions in Iraq remain dangerous [JURIST comment], with violence often targeted against civilians and minorities [JURIST report].