Legal agenda and live webcasts ~ Wednesday, Feb. 23 News
Legal agenda and live webcasts ~ Wednesday, Feb. 23

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, Feb. 23.

The US Supreme Court [official website] is scheduled to hear oral arguments in two cases beginning at 10 AM ET today. In the first case, Orff v. United States [case backgrounder from Duke Law School], 03-1566, the Court will review a circuit split on whether farmers are intended or incidental beneficiaries of irrigation district contracts with the US Bureau of Reclamation. The ABA has merit briefs in the case. The Court will then hear arguments in Exxon Mobil v. Saudi Basic Industries, 03-1696, in which the Court will decide whether the Rooker-Feldman doctrine can be broadly applied to deny federal courts jurisdiction when simultaneous state court proceedings present identical issues. The ABA has merit briefs in the case.

The US Senate and US House [official websites] are in recess this week. Both will resume their sessions on Feb. 28.

The US Election Assistance Commission [official website] is holding a public meeting [agenda, PDF] at 10 AM ET and a public hearing [agenda, PDF] at 1 PM ET today. Watch a live webcast of proceedings.

The European Parliament [official website] continues its plenary session today, with a session beginning at 9 AM local time [3 AM ET]. Read an agenda [text], and watch a live webcast of today's session.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the trial of Slobodan Milosevic [ICTY case backgrounder] continues today. Watch a webcast of proceedings beginning at 9:30 AM local time [3:30 AM ET].

THIS DAY @ LAW

Bank of England granted political independence

On May 6, 1997, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown announced that the Bank of England would be granted political independence for the first time in the three-hundred year history of the Bank. This policy was statutized in the subsequent Bank of England Act of 1998 gave the Bank independent control of British monetary policy effective June 1, 1998. Read the Bank of England Act of 1998.

Chinese Exclusion Act barred Chinese laborers from US

On May 6, 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring Chinese laborers from entering the United States and prohibiting courts from bestowing US citizenship on Chinese. Connecticut Senator Joseph Hawley spoke out against the Act in these words: Let the proposed statue be read 100 years hence, dug out of the dust of ages and forgotten as it will be except for a line of sneer by some historian, and ask the young man not well read in the history of this country what was the reason for excluding these men and he would not be able to find it in the law. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and its successors were abolished in 1943 at the insistence of President Franklin Roosevelt.