Supreme Court to Rule on Immigration:  The Supreme Court justices agreed Tuesday to review President Obama's plan to shield five million illegal immigrants from deportation in a review of a lower court rulings that blocked the sweeping executive actions from going into effect.  Fox News reports that the Obama administration's plan primarily benefits the parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, bringing the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program into the forefront of the issue.  Critics argue that Obama's plan is unconstitutional because he overrode the legislative authority in Congress, bypassing the "constitutionally ordained legislative process" to rewrite the law unilaterally.  The case is likely to be argued in April and decided by June.

FL Courts Face Death Penalty Dilemma:  Between now and April 5, five death penalty trials are scheduled in a Florida court, which is a problem, given that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the state's death penalty procedures are unconstitutional.  Larry Hannan of the Florida Times-Union reports that the high court ruled on Jan. 12 that Florida's death penalty is unconstitutional because the final decision on life in prison or death is decided by a judge rather than a jury.  An attorney representing one of the condemned inmates scheduled for trial in the coming months said that the Florida Supreme Court could either issue an emergency ruling, or the Legislature could act quickly to amend the death penalty sentencing law.  Each option will take considerable time, making it unlikely that any case is to move forward anytime soon.  Whichever option is taken, their remains the question of whether defendants can be tried under a new statute that was passed after they committed their crimes.

NYPD Ordered to Purge Counter-Terror Docs:  A U.S. court has directed the New York Police Department to remove an extensive report from its website that pertains to the rise of Islamic extremists in the West and counter-terrorism efforts as part of a settlement reached earlier this month with Muslim community advocates.  Adam Kredo of the Free Beacon reports that the case, spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) since 2013, focused heavily on NYPD's 2007 radicalization report from its website.  The report examined how radical individuals make their way to the U.S. and carry out terror attacks, in an effort to provide local law enforcement with information about domestic terrorists and their operations.  Several legal and national security experts are critical of the court decision, noting that it will not only diminish officers' understanding of how terrorists organize and operate, but is also "part of a larger campaign by Muslim advocacy organizations in the United States to dismantle surveillance programs on that community."

U.S. Begins Screening Refugees' Social Media Accounts:  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that screens refugees, announced Sunday that they are now permitted to probe the social media accounts of Iraqi and Syrian refugees.  Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports that USCIS director Leon Rodriguez says that though the agency will now be able to screen refugees' social media accounts for potential terrorism-related clues, it is likely improbable that they will be able to check the accounts of all 8 million immigration applications the agency receives each year, forcing  them to prioritize and target only specific programs or countries.  The agency has been faced with recent scrutiny following several high-profile events, such as last month's terror attacks in San Bernardino when it was reported that the jihadist couple responsible for the attack had posted online swearing allegiance to the Islamic State, and the arrest earlier this month of a man who traveled to Syria to fight after being admitted as a refugee in 2012.  The Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to require President Obama's chiefs of intelligence, Homeland Security and the FBI to certify every refugee is low-risk before being admitted to the U.S.