[JURIST] John Bolton (official biography here), the US Under-Secretary of State who led the US campaign against the establishment of the International Criminal Court (see a representative speech by Bolton here) and later helped negotiate a series of controversial bilateral agreements with countries around the world that would exempt American personnel from its jurisdiction, is planning to quit the State Department, according to sources cited by Reuters. Bolton, considered a conservative hard-liner for his ICC stance and also for his positions on nuclear proliferation issues involving North Korea (speech transcript here) and Iran (speech transcript here), is said to have been hoping for promotion in the second term of the Bush administration, but that seemed to have been largely precluded Wednesday after Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice chose US Trade Reprentative Robert Zoellick as her deputy. Observers suggest that her choice may signal a less confrontational, more internationalist US foreign policy turn. It is said Bolton is pursuing other opportunities in the private sector. Reuters has more.