The Philippine Supreme Court dealt a crushing blow...

The Philippine Supreme Court dealt a crushing blow to disgraced ex-president Joseph Estrada's hopes when it upheld the plunder law under which he is being tried.
Voting 10-4 with one abstention, the High Court removed the last legal barrier to the ousted president's ongoing trial, in which he faces the death penalty if convicted.
The four justices who voted against the law were either appointees of Estrada or close associates. The only justice appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo exempted himself because, as a lawyer, he had helped file the plunder case against Estrada.
The decision averted what could have been a major political crisis. If the plunder law had been declared unconstitutional, the revolt that overthrew Estrada would have been called into question.
Estrada's lawyers had contended that the Plunder Act, which was passed 10 years ago, was vague.
Under the act, any public official found to have illegally amassed at least 75 million pesos (HK$11 million) faces death.