ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society

In Brief:

• Military prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty for six of the Guantánamo detainees
• Nebraska became the last state to ban electrocution as a form of capital punishment
  
• The Senate resumed consideration of FISA today
• A new bill in California seeks to ban life without parole for juveniles

National Security and Civil Liberties

• Military prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty for six of the Guantánamo detainees. ACS has made available a range of materials related to the detainee cases.
• The Senate resumed consideration of the FISA Amendments Act today.
• CNN reported on airport searches of laptops and other devices. The Asian Law Caucus and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have filed suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for denying access to public records on the questioning and searches of travelers at U.S. borders.

Individual Rights

• A student who sued Regent University Law School after he was suspended for posting an unflattering image of its founder, televangelist Pat Robertson, is arguing that the school violated his free speech rights and misled him by portraying the school as supportive of free speech.
• A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a blind woman against several fast-food restaurants. The panel ruled that she has the right to effective communication of the menu choices under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• An Arizona federal judge upheld a state law prohibiting businesses from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and takes away the licenses of businesses that violate the law.

Access to Justice

• A new bill in California seeks to ban life in prison without parole for juveniles. National Public Radio previously provided a report on teen sentencing around the world.
• The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled on Friday that electrocution as a form of capital punishment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, becoming the last state to ban electrocution, and effectively suspending executions in the state.

Other News

• On Friday, a three-judge federal appeals panel ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency had not set the appropriate limits for mercury emissions from power plants fueled by coal and struck down a Bush administration effort that would have allowed some companies to buy their way out of pollution-reduction limits.
• President Bush has pushed the U.S. Senate to vote on his backlog of more than 180 federal nominees. The New York Times published an editorial about the Bush nominees.
• Two Massachusetts attorneys were disbarred for a plot to trick the former law clerk of a state judge into providing information about the judge for use in a civil case.
• A prominent class-action lawyer on trial for paying plaintiffs to file securities lawsuits has alleged that this practice was widespread, and not confined to his firm.
• A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled Wednesday that private companies that run programs administered by California district attorneys are not covered by state sovereign immunity, in a case against a private contractor hired by a DA’s office to go after people who passed bad checks.
• The SCOTUS Blog provided a list of “petitions to watch” that will be discussed at the upcoming Justices’ private conference on February 15.