The court also agreed to decide in CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood [docket; cert. petition, PDF] whether claims arising under the Credit Repair Organizations Act [15 USC § 1679 et seq.] are subject to arbitration pursuant to a valid arbitration agreement. The case arises from a dispute between consumers and companies that issue low-rate credit cards to people with bad credit. The consumers filed a lawsuit over credit card fees, and the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled [opinion, PDF] that they had a right to sue in federal court rather than face arbitration. There is a circuit split on the issue.

Katsav was initially indicted on rape charges [JURIST report] in 2009 for allegedly assaulting female employees in the 1990s. In 2008, Katsav rejected a plea agreement [JURIST report] that would have permitted him to plead guilty to lesser charges of indecent assault, sexual harassment and obstruction of justice in exchange for a suspended sentence and the dropping of rape charges. The plea deal had been criticized [JURIST report] by women's and civil rights activists, prompting five separate petitions to overturn the agreement.

The amendment was originally proposed [JURIST report] in August, and Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] has criticized the measure as legal housekeeping because the crimes are rarely punished by execution [BBC report]. AI estimates that China executes thousands of people every year—more than the rest of the world combined—but the actual figure is a closely guarded state secret. Last February, the Supreme People's Court of China [official website, in Chinese] issued new guidelines for limiting capital punishment [JURIST report] in Chinese courts to "extremely serious" crimes.

As founder and leader of al Qaeda [JURIST news archive], Bin Laden represents the highest profile terror target captured or killed by the US. Last month, the US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] announced that alleged former al Qaeda chief in the Arabian Peninsula and accused mastermind of the USS Cole bombing Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri [JURIST news archive] will be tried in a military court [JURIST report] rather than in a civilian criminal court. Also last month, US Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC report; JURIST news archive], a high-ranking al Qaeda member whom US officials say was principally responsible for planning the 9/11 attacks, will be tried by a military tribunal [JURIST report] as well. Mohammed has also admitted involvement in the 2002 beheading [JURIST report] of US journalist Daniel Pearl [JURIST news archive], the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The detention and treatment of accused al Qaeda members held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] has generated controversy in the US and throughout the world [JURIST reports].

We conclude that the plain terms of the Compact protect ordinary "[a]ppropriative rights to the beneficial uses of [water] ... existing in each signatory State as of January 1, 1950." ... And the best evidence we have shows that the doctrine of appropriation in Wyoming and Montana allows appropriators to improve the efficiency of their irrigation systems, even to the detriment of downstream appropriators. Montana's allegation that Wyoming has breached Article V(A) of the Compact by allowing its pre-1950 water users to increase their irrigation efficiency thus fails to state a claim. Accordingly, Montana's first exception to the Special Master's First Interim Report is overruled.

Also Monday, the court issued a per curiam opinion [text, PDF] in Bobby v. Mitts [SCOTUSblog backgrounder]. The court reversed the decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which had ruled in favor of an Ohio death row inmate. Relying on it's decision last year in Smith v. Spisak [JURIST report], the court ruled that the jury instructions did not violate the defendant's rights.