Their case was one of the few scheduled to move forward under Judge Bissell's order to open the special-interest hearings, and a hearing date had been scheduled for June.
The case, which has been delayed because of language difficulties, changes in lawyers and extensive court hearings, has drawn interest in the Chinese immigrant community in Flushing, which has raised money for bail and legal fees for the couple.
David Lloyd, from Challenge Navitus, said: "We are very much looking forward to these special interest hearings, because the more the Planning Inspectorate starts to focus on the real detail concerning the objections to this development, the more it is becoming patently clear to them how ill-suited this plan is to this particular area".
Detainees were winning habeas-corpus hearings, and public-interest groups were mounting challenges to the Bush Administration's stances on state secrecy, surveillance, and torture.
The agency, made up of 220 immigration judges in 51 jurisdictions, is headed by Judge Michael Creppy, who in September -- at the direction of Mr. Ashcroft -- ordered that all special-interest hearings be closed.
The suit followed a Sept. 21 memo by the country's chief immigration judge, Michael J. Creppy, at the direction of Attorney General John Ashcroft, ordering immigration judges to close all special-interest hearings and withhold related information.
Just in time for the start of the hearings, three public-interest groups — Earthjustice, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project — identified 39 coal ash disposal sites in 21 states where leaking waste has raised water pollution levels beyond those permitted by federal laws.
Appeal court judge Lady Justice Hallett concluded that she had powers under Rule 17 of the Coroners Rules 1984 to exclude the public from hearings in the interests of national security.But she ruled that this did not include "interested persons", such as the bereaved relatives, who are legally entitled to be represented.
Next? 4. Focus Hearings on Students' Interests.
Our senators received a massive amount of emails and tweets sharing our legitimate concerns about the answers she gave in her confirmation hearings, her conflicts of interest, her agenda to divert resources from public schools to private interests, and her lack of experience with public education.
