Power of Judicial Review

First published in The Friday Times.

By Yasser Latif Hamdani

During his confirmation hearings, Judge John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the United States of America, famously admitted that he was aware of the fact that millions of people had elected the US Congress and not even one person had voted for the Supreme Court. More recently, in the now famous Obamacare judgment pronounced on June 28, Roberts declared that it was not the job of the Supreme Court to "protect people from their political choices". Such is the deference for the legislative branch of the government in the country that literally invented the doctrine of judicial review.

LEGAL NOTICE to NABIHA MEHER SHAIKH, UROOJ ZIA AND AHMAD S YUSUF

14.07.2012
WITHOUT PREJUDICE

To:
1. Nabiha Meher Shaikh, ADDRESS DELETED
2. Ahmad Yusuf, ADDRESS DELETED
3. Urooj Zia, ADDRESS DELETED

BY COURIER, EMAIL, HAND AND PUBLICATION ON THE WEB

SUBJECT: LEGAL NOTICE

I act on my own behalf and address the following legal notice to you:
1. That you are continuously carrying out a malicious campaign of propaganda against me with mala fide intent claiming falsely and without cause that I incited three people i.e. Mr. Ali Azmat, ,Mr. Shemrez Nauman and Mr. Raza Ahmad (Rumi) to indulge in inappropriate and forcible sexual activity i.e. rape or collective zina-bil-jabr with one Nabiha Meher Shaikh. This terrible travesty of the truth has been perpetuated by your good selves through Twitter- a microblogging site-, via mass emails and orally. Evidence is attached herewith as Annex-A to this legal notice. The allegation is – needless to say - untrue and false and what is more that you are well aware that the allegation is entirely untrue.

US Supreme Court Ruling and the precedent for the world (especially Pakistan)

By Yasser Latif Hamdani

The Supreme Court of the United States ("SCOTUS") has ruled that Obamacare is constitutional. The  "Court held that the individual mandate, which requires that virtually all Americans either obtain health insurance or pay a penalty by 2014, is constitutional."

This is no doubt a historic decision for the US and for President Obama. The SCOTUS ruled that the Congress had wide powers under the commerce clause but it upheld the law under taxing power of the Congress i.e. the penalty to be imposed is a tax against not paying for health insurance.  Indeed this would have a major impact on the impending elections which the sisterblog of this website http://2012electionsus.blogspot.com/ will be looking at in some detail in the coming future.

However my interest - as a Pakistani lawyer- is in the persuasive precedent this historic ruling sets for the rest of the world and in particular Pakistan and also Egypt, the two Muslim majority states also grappling with the issue of judicial overreach at the moment. In Pakistan a democratically elected and relatively secular government has been the direct victim of judicial overreach. Chief Justice of Pakistan, Chaudhry Iftikhar, has disqualified the former Prime Minister, Mr. Yusuf Raza Gilani for not initiating proceedings against President Asif Ali Zardari despite the fact that such an action is constitutionally barred in clear language of the constitution. In Egypt a secular judiciary has thrown out an Islamist parliament.
 

Islamabad 3rd Roundtable - Declaration of Support for Media Legal Reforms in FATA

Yasser Latif Hamdani was one of the delegates who signed this declaration for media reforms in FATA.

“We, the participants of the Islamabad Roundtable on Legal Cover for Media Reforms in FATA [June 20, 2012], comprising eminent lawyers and members of bar associations from across Pakistan, including lawyers from FATA, after debating it at length endorses the consensus Declarations of the previous two roundtables of FATA and media stakeholders [held in November 2011] seeking the same legal rights for citizens of Pakistan residing in FATA as in the rest of Pakistan.

"We especially support, endorse and demand for FATA the firm compliance of Articles 19 and 19A of the Constitution of Pakistan guaranteeing freedom of expression and right to information, and including the right to have legal, independent local media, which is imperative for full realization of political reforms in the region.

"The legal fraternity of Pakistan also expresses solidarity with the citizens of Pakistan residing in FATA in fulfillment of their inalienable Constitutional, legal and political rights and all efforts to afford them the same legal and media freedoms as in the rest of Pakistan, and urge the Governments, Legislatures, the FATA Governor and the President of Pakistan to take concrete steps to realize these rights for the Tribal Areas.” 

Twitter Joke Trial

The twitter joke trial has been getting a lot of publicity. Here is a Guardian piece, I thought readers would enjoy:

A two-and-a-half year legal battle over a "joke" posted on Twitter that landed its author with a criminal record returns to the high court on Wednesday in front of the most senior judge in England and Wales.

Paul Chambers, an unemployed former trainee accountant, is appealing against his conviction for tweeting that he would blow up Doncaster's Robin Hood airport unless it reopened so he could fly to see his new girlfriend.

The case will be heard in front of the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, Mr Justice Owen and Mr Justice Griffith Williams. It brings the number of judges and magistrates who have considered Chambers' case up to nine, spread over seven days in court since his tweet on 6 January 2010.

Obama Healthcare and the US Supreme Court: Countdown

Countdown has begun.

Read this very interesting blog from SCOTUS. I reproduce an excerpt:

If the Court does decide to decide, it has four issues before it — three of which are somewhat clustered, and one of which stands somewhat (but not entirely) alone.
The three that are definitely bunched together could be decided with a ruling on just one of them, or with a ruling on just two, or with a ruling on all three, separately.   Those three issues all relate to the insurance mandate, or what is technically labeled the “minimum coverage” provision.   By that provision, the most controversial of all, Congress declared that virtually every American (there are a few exceptions) must obtain health insurance before the year 2014, or else pay a financial penalty with their tax returns until they do get a policy.
So the individual mandate is one of the clustered issues.  The second is whether the Court has the authority to decide the fate of the mandate.  And the third is whether, if the mandate is struck down as unconstitutional, other parts of the massive Affordable Care Act must fall with it — if any.

Miller v. Alabama - Announced 25.06.2012

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
10-9646	Ala. Ct. Crim. App.	Mar 20, 2012 Tr.	Jun 25, 2012	5-4	Kagan	OT 2011

Holding: The Eighth Amendment prohibits a sentencing scheme that requires life in prison without the possibility of parole for juvenile homicide offenders.

Judgment: Reversed and remanded, 5-4, in an opinion by Justice Kagan on June 25, 2012. Justice Breyer filed a concurring opinion, in which Justice Sotomayor joined. Chief Justice Roberts filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito joined. Justice Thomas filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined. Justice Alito, filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Scalia joined.