US: The US Supreme Court wrapped up its current term yesterday with far-reaching decisions on the freedom of journalists to protect sources, on internet file-sharing, on the display of the Ten Commandments in public and on the enforcement of restraining orders.
There was however no retirement announcement in court from any of the nine judges, despite intense speculation that chief justice William Rehnquist (80), who has thyroid cancer, or justice Sandra Day O'Connor (75) would step down.
The court rejected appeals from two journalists, Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, against a lower court ruling that could send them to jail for 18 months for contempt - possibly as early as next month.
The reporters had refused to testify before a grand jury about the source in the Bush administration who had leaked to them the identity of an undercover CIA officer.
Several news organisations and 34 states had sought a ruling that reporters could not be jailed or fined for refusing to identify their sources on the basis of confidentiality and free speech.
Valerie Plame's name was first made public in 2003 by conservative columnist Robert Novak, shortly after her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, angered the White House by criticising president Bush's claim that Iraq sought uranium in Niger to make nuclear weapons.
It can be a crime to identify an undercover CIA agent and US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago was appointed special counsel to investigate the matter.
It is not known if Mr Fitzgerald subpoenaed Novak, who had cited two administration officials, but the counsel told the Supreme Court the only unfinished business was testimony from Cooper and Miller, who had obtained the same information independently. Ms Miller did not go into print with the information, prompting the publisher of the New York Times, Arthur Sulzberger, to comment: "It is shocking that for doing some routine newsgathering on an important public issue, keeping her word to her sources, and without our even publishing a story about the CIA agent, Judy finds herself facing a prison sentence."
Time said in a statement that it would immediately seek a rehearing before the trial judge, US district court judge Thomas Hogan, on the grounds that the circumstances of the case have changed as the disclosure of Ms Plame's identity to Novak may not have violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
The federal Court of Appeals in Washington upheld a judge's contempt ruling in February, based on a 1972 Supreme Court's finding that the First Amendment did not relieve journalists of their responsibility to testify before a grand jury.
A brief filed on behalf of 34 states said that all US states except Wyoming recognised the right of journalists to protect confidential sources without which they would find their newsgathering abilities compromised leaving citizens "far less able to make informed political, social and economic choices".
The ruling on internet file-sharing could have a serious impact on software companies if they are found to intentionally enable customers to use their software to swap music and films illegally.
The decision, one of the most far-reaching copyright rulings for years, was the climax of a case taken in October 2001 by 28 media companies against Streamcast Networks which makes the software behind Grokster and Morpheus.
They argued that Streamcast was profiting from piracy carried out by their products on the file-sharing networks, and that the Supreme Court should overrule successive court judgements that had favoured the file-sharing networks and refused to award damages to media companies for the 90 per cent of songs and films downloaded illegally.
The ruling on the Ten Commandments was the first concerning the separation of church and state since 1980 when the court banned their display in schools.
A sharply divided court decreed that it was not unconstitutional to display the Ten Commandments on government land, but that their display inside courthouses violated the doctrine of separation of church and state - while not being inherently unconstitutional.
In a 5-4 ruling, the court said framed copies of the Ten Commandments in two Kentucky courthouses went too far in endorsing religion and were unconstitutional because their religious content was overemphasized.
The majority justices said that some displays inside courthouses such as their own courtroom frieze - would be permissible if they were portrayed neutrally to honour the nation's legal history.
In Kentucky, two counties originally hung the copies of the Ten Commandments in their courthouses. After the American Civil Liberties Union took action, the counties modified their displays to add other documents demonstrating "America's Christian heritage". When a federal court found that the displays amounted to a government endorsement of religion, the counties erected a third Ten Commandments display with surrounding documents such as the Bill of Rights to highlight their role in "our system of law and government".
This was banned as a sham by a US circuit appeals court and the Supreme Court has decided that each case should be examined on its merits to determine whether an exhibit went too far in government promotion of religion.
The judges ruled however that a 1.8m (6ft) granite monument on the grounds of the Capitol building in Austin, Texas, one of 17 historical displays on the 22-acre site, was a legitimate tribute to the nation's legal and religious history.
Chief justice Rehnquist said "Of course, the Ten Commandments are religious . . . and the monument therefore has religious significance" but this did not fall foul of the constitution.
He was supported by justices Antonia Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer. In a dissent justice John Paul Stevens argued the display was an improper government endorsement of religion as it proclaimed in large letters: "I AM the LORD thy God."
In a 7-2 ruling the court declared that police cannot be sued for not enforcing a restraining order.
Jessica Gonzales, of Colorado, claimed police did not do enough to prevent her estranged husband from taking her three young daughters in violation of a restraining order. Simon Gonzales later killed the three girls before being shot dead by police.
Hundreds of people queued to get inside the Supreme Court yesterday amid speculation that a justice would retire, leaving a vacancy for the first time in ten years. Justice Rehnquist struggled to talk as he delivered judgement on the Ten Commandments case and had to clear his throat several times.
The White House held a strategy meeting on Friday to prepare for a possible Supreme Court vacancy, the Washington Post reported yesterday. Both Republicans and Democrats are gearing up for expensive high-stakes campaigns.