In Tuesday's environmental law news, prosecutors in Indonesia announced they have decided to go ahead with charges against 6 executives of the Newmont Mining Corporation for allegedly contamininating the Buyat Bay. The prosecutors are awaiting a final dossier from local police, and hope to officially file the charges in a few weeks. Five of the [...]

Updating a story reported Monday on JURIST's Paper Chase, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has bowed to pressure to make public its revised proposals for US stock trading reform in order to allow continued public debate on the issue. Following intense lobbying amidst securities industry fears that a plan proposing major changes would be [...]

The Louisiana Supreme Court Wednesday will consider the constitutionality of the state's Defense of Marriage amendment banning gay marriage. The amendment, overwhelmingly passed by voters in September, was struck down in early October by State District Judge William Morvant, who found the amendment's structure violated a state constitutional requirement that any amendment deal with only [...]

NAACP President Kweisi Mfume announced Tuesday that he is resigning as the head of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group after serving in that position since 1996. The organization's legal counsel, Dennis Hayes, will serve as interim president. Mfume, whose adopted West African name translates to "conquering son of kings," started his career [...]

The US Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education (case summary from Duke Law School), a landmark gender equity case where the court will decide whether Congress intended under Title IX to allow lawsuits persons complaining of gender bias even if they are not direct victims. Title IX, best known [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority violated the free speech rights of a group promoting the legalization of marijuana when it refused to accept advertisements by the group. In an opinion released Monday, the court ruled that MBTA’s decision not to permit the ads [...]

A bill allowing Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to continue in his dual role as head of the army has been signed into law and will take effect at the end of the year. Musharraf had promised opposition parties that he would step down as army chief, but he has since said that changed circumstances required [...]

Reuters is reporting that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has resigned. AP has more on the resignation, with quotes from Ridge and additional speculation on likely successors to the Homeland Security post.

In Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, the SEC announced American International Group Inc. (AIG), the world's largest insurance company, has agreed to pay $126 million to settle charges it helped companies fraudulently inflate earnings. AIG will pay a fine of $80 million and repay $46 million in ill-gotten gains plus interest and also agreed [...]

A federal district judge has upheld the constitutionality of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act against a challenge by former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, the first executive charged under the act last year for his alleged oversight of a scheme to restate the companies by almost $2.7 billion. District Judge Karon Bowdre of the US District Court for [...]