"The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge Friday by suspected al-Qaida sleeper agent Ali Al-Marri to the president's authority to detain people without charges, granting an Obama administration request to end the high court case," reports Mark Sherman for AP.

The high court's order approving transfer of Al-Marri to the custody of the AG (for regular criminal prosecution) is here. By remanding the detention case to dismiss as moot, the court eliminates the Fourth Circuit opinion as precedent, and the citation to United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U.S. 36 (1950) reinforces that point.

The Court did not announce today which cases it decided to accept for review, as it normally does not at this point in the term. We can expect that announcement Monday. Among the cases considered are cross-petitions in a North Carolina murder case: Branker v. Gray, 08-551 and Gray v. Branker, 08-7013. Can a well-heeled defendant claim ineffective assistance of counsel for not hiring a mental health expert after telling his lawyer, "not to spend another f'ing penny on this trial"? Can he claim the lawyer should have applied for funds from the court after the defendant self-inflicted indigence by transferring his assets to a trust? CJLF's brief in support of North Carolina in 08-551 is here.