Appeal of Congressional Search Denied: The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the government's appeal of last year's DC Circuit holding regarding a search of the Congressional office of Rep. William Jefferson (D-La). A story by LA Times reporter David Savage discusses the lower court ruling in U.S. v. Rayburn Office Building and the effect of the high court's refusal to reconsider it. Jefferson is facing prosecution in Virginia on bribery charges.

Death Row Appeals by seven Mexican-born inmates in Texas were rejected by the Supreme Court yesterday. The condemned murderers had raised international rights claims which were addressed in last week's Medellin decision. A story by Houston Chronicle reporter Bennett Roth reports that fourteen Mexican nationals are currently awaiting execution in Texas.

Also on Medellin, the Federalist Society has an online debate here and here with Texas SG Ted Cruz, St. Louis U. Law Professor David Sloss, Georgetown U. Law Professor Nick Rosenkranz, and former State Dept. lawyer Edwin Williamson.

Military Commissions, challenged as unconstitutional in the pending Supreme Court cases of Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. US, are the subject of this editorial in today's Wall Street Journal. The piece discusses the recent filing of charges against Gitmo detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who is implicated in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies which killed over 200, including 12 Americans.