JURIST - Paper Chase: Sunday, October 9, 2011

[JURIST] The United Nations (UN) [official website] called on all parties to the Libyan revolution [JURIST news archive] to maintain respect for human rights [press release] as the conflict winds down in Sirte [BBC backgrounder]. As the interim government forces push through the hometown of former Libyan leader Mummar Gaddafi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative Ian Martin [official profile] urged respect for the due process of law instead of seeking personal avengeance for alleged war crimes and other grave violations. UN officials also expressed concern for civilians who have chosen to remain in Sirte, which is seeing heavy street fighting, and have urged the continuance of medical aid and help by local communities and charities.

Harm to the civilian population has been a concern throughout the Libyan conflict. In August, Libyan Prime Minister Al Baghdad Ali Al-Mahmoudi [BBC backgrounder] requested that the UN create a "high-level commission" [JURIST report] to investigate alleged human rights abuses [Reuters report] by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) [official website] forces. Although NATO was mandated by the UN to use force in order to stop Muammar Gaddafi from fomenting violence upon Libyan citizens, the campaign has allegedly gone beyond the scope of protecting civilians and recently led to the death of 85 civilians in one night after NATO forces bombed a residential area supposedly housing a rebel command center. In June, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] decided to extend a mandate to an investigative panel instructing it to continue its investigation of human rights abuses in Libya, after it published a 92-page report [JURIST reports] claiming Libyan authorities committed crimes against humanity, "as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population with knowledge of the attack."

See JURIST's Feature on the Libya conflict for more.

[JURIST] California Governor Jerry Brown [official website] Saturday vetoed [text, PDF] a bill [SB 185, PDF] that would have allowed public colleges and universities to consider demographic factors such as race during the admissions process. The bill, introduced by Senator Ed Hernandez [official website], would have effectively overturned [Daily Californian report] ballot measure Proposition 209 [text], which banned the use of affirmative action for state hiring, contracting, or university admission. The Governor said in his veto message to the Senate that although he agreed with the purpose [statement, PDF] of the bill, it is the role of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] to decide the boundaries of Proposition 209:

I wholeheartedly agree with the goal of this legislation.... But while I agree with this legislation, I must return the bill without my signature. Our constitutional system of separation of powers requires that the courts -- not the Legislature -- determine the limits of Proposition 209.... Signing this bill is unlikely to impact how Proposition 209 is ultimately interpreted by the courts; it will just encourage the 209 advocates to file more costly and confusing lawsuits.

The Governor previously contested [opinion letter, PDF; JURIST report] Proposition 209 in 2009. The Berkeley College Republicans at the University of California Berkeley [academic website] released a statement praising [press release] the Governor's veto. The veto comes on the same day Governor Brown signed into law a bill allowing undocumented immigrants to receive financial aid [JURIST report] for college.

Affirmative action continues to be a controversial issue. Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] agreed to a rehearing en banc [JURIST report] to determine the constitutionality of an amendment to the Michigan Constitution banning affirmative action. In January, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] unanimously ruled to uphold the affirmative action [JURIST report] policy of considering race in student admissions at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) [academic website]. In August of 2010, the Supreme Court of California [official website] held that a state ban on preferential hiring practices for minorities and women does not violate [JURIST report] the federal Constitution [text]. In November 2008, Colorado voters narrowly rejected [JURIST report] a ballot measure [Amendment 46 text and materials] to prohibit governmental agencies from discriminating or granting preferences on the basis of race and sex. While, a nearly identical measure passed [JURIST report] in Nebraska.

[JURIST] An Obama administration legal memorandum from last year found that the killing of US citizen and senior al Qaeda [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] leader Anwar al-Awlaki [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] would only be legal if it were not feasible to take al-Awlaki alive. The memo last year followed months of legal debate regarding the decision to kill a US citizen without first having a trial. The secret document written by the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] justified the decision [NYT report] to kill al-Awlaki despite an executive order banning assassinations and a federal law against murder. The memo may serve to resolve the legal debate and respond to public criticism over whether the president can order the killing of US citizens abroad as part of a counterterrorism measure [WP report]. The document may also serve as justification for allowing the US military and CIA to kill an American overseas based on the written approval from the DOJ. The Obama Administration still has not discussed its role in the drone attack killing al-Awlaki.

Al-Awlaki was killed by a CIA drone strike [JURIST report] in Yemen on September 30. The strike marks the US government's most successful attack against al Qaeda since the raid leading to the death of Osama bin Laden [JURIST report] in Pakistan last May. The US-born radical Muslim cleric reportedly used his English and Internet skills to recruit individuals for attacks in the US. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] criticized the targeted killing as a violation of both US and international law [press release]. The US has increased drone strikes in Yemen to try and reduce al Qaeda's power in the region and minimize the chaos spilling over the border into Saudi Arabia. The US targeted Awlaki in a strike last May but missed.

[JURIST] California Governor Jerry Brown [official website] signed [press release] the California Dream Act [AB 131, PDF] into law on Saturday, expanding financial aid to undocumented students. Under AB 131, high achieving students who are in the process of applying for citizenship are eligible to receive financial aid for college. The newly enacted law builds on AB 130, signed into law by Governor Brown on July 25, 2011, which made financial aid from private sources available to the same group of students. The former law required undocumented students to pay nonresident tuition at California Community Colleges and the California State University unless they were nonimmigrant aliens who attended high school in California for at least three years and graduated from a California high school or its equivalent. The former law also covered aliens without lawful immigration status if they filed a prescribed affidavit. The Dream Act amends the Donahue Higher Education Act to establish procedures that enable students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition to apply for, and participate in, all student aid programs to the full extent that federal law permits.

Immigration has been a divisive issue across the US. In August, President Barack Obama announced major reforms [JURIST report] to the US's current immigration system, putting 300,000 illegal immigrants' cases up for review and temporarily halting their deportation. Many of the criteria allowing immigrants to stay in this country mirror portions of the federal Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act [materials], which has languished in Congress for a decade. It attempts to provide amnesty for illegal immigrants who serve in the military or achieve a college education. Also in August, the Casa de Maryland immigrant rights group filed a challenge [JURIST report] to a public referendum over a Maryland law providing in-state tuition to undocumented college students. The group filed the challenge in the Maryland Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County [official website] after opponents of the Maryland DREAM Act [text, PDF; materials] collected enough signatures to put the law to a public referendum.