In Thursday's corporations and securities law news, PeopleSoft executives have unanimously recommended its shareholders reject Oracle's $8.8 billion hostile takeover bid because the offer was too low. Oracle, upon learning of the news, said it was prepared to walk away from its bid. Read the PeopleSoft press release here and listen to the webcast here. [...]

A Nigerian federal appeals court today blocked an upcoming general strike which would effectively shut down oil exports in the world's seventh largest exporter. Justice Tanko Mohammed Yusuf ruled that the main Nigeria Labor Congress "shall not embark on any strike from 16th of November 2004 or any day thereafter." Earlier this year, the government [...]

John Norton Moore, University of Virginia Law School: "As a matter of national honor we owe a special debt to our prisoners of war. Surely this country also should adhere to treaty obligations that are designed to deter torture of our POWs, including the obligation in the POW convention never to "absolve" a torturing state [...]

Ralph Nader, who ran as an independent presidential candidate this year, has called for recounts of November 2 voting results. Nader says he want to ensure every ballot was counted amid growing allegations of irregularities. Nader is partiuclarly urging recounts in the hotly disputed states of Ohio and Florida, which were won by President Bush. [...]

In the wake of early morning raids on the El Geer camp near Nyala in southern Darfur, Amnesty International is calling for the creation of an international body to monitor the Sudanese police. Amnesty will urge the UN Security Council in its meeting next week to find better ways to protect the people of Darfur. [...]

Jack Balkin, Yale Law School: "There are two reasons why Bush might have nominated Gonzales to be Attorney General. The first is that he is grooming him for a further appointment to the Supreme Court. The second is that he never plans to appoint him but wants to send a strong signal that he might. [...]

Lawyers from the John Kerry presidential campaign are scrutinizing the results of voting in Ohio, especially the provisional ballots, to determine if any voting irregularities exist. Since President Bush is leading Kerry in the state by more than 136,000 votes with only 155,337 provisional ballots outstanding, the effort is not aimed at changing the outcome [...]

The Iowa Supreme Court has announced plans to begin disciplining the state's county prosecutors under the Court's Board of Ethics. Currently, an ethics committed of private Iowa County Attorneys Association handles complaints against prosecutors. However, this practice has come into question by recent actions which has led some Iowan attorneys to question how well the [...]

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that a state law requiring candidates to reach a vote threshold in a primary election before appearing on the general election ballot violated "important constitutional rights that are central to the preservation of our democracy." Saying that the law served "no rational state purpose," the court concluded "that by [...]

Reaction to President Bush's nomination of White House Counsel, and former Texas Supreme Court Judge, Alberto Gonzales to succeed John Ashcroft as US Attorney General has been mixed, with most of the criticism citing Gonzales' role in setting administration policy on detaining and questioning people captured in the fight against terrorism. Gonzales was the author [...]