Decisions, Decisions, Decisions . . .

In a busy Monday at the Supreme Court, the justices:

-- Refused to delay the trial of former congressman William J. Jefferson (D-La.) on bribery and other charges.

Jefferson is scheduled to go on trial June 2 in Alexandria on charges that include soliciting bribes and racketeering. Investigators raided his home and found $90,000 in cash in the freezer.

The justices decided not to review the decision of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond that rejected Jefferson's assertions that a federal grand jury received evidence that violated his constitutional right to legislative immunity.

-- Decided not to hear a challenge to California's decade-old law permitting marijuana use for medical purposes.

San Diego and San Bernardino counties brought the case, saying the justices have never directly ruled on whether California's law trumps the federal law on controlled substances. A state appeals court ruled that the state laws "do not pose a significant impediment" to the federal statute because the latter is designed to "combat recreational drug use, not to regulate a state's medical practices."

-- Accepted two death penalty cases that involve the issue of effectiveness of counsel.

The court will consider throwing out the death sentence for Holly Wood, a mentally impaired Alabama man who killed his former lover. His attorney, described in court papers as lacking criminal-law experience, failed to tell jurors that Wood has an IQ of less than 70 and had been classified as mentally retarded.

The justices will consider reinstating the death sentence for a convicted murderer in Pennsylvania who twice escaped from prison after being found guilty of bludgeoning and drowning a man planning to testify against him. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit said that Joseph Kindler's attorney was ineffective during the sentencing phase of his trial and that there were problems with the instructions given to the jury.

-- Turned away a plea from Holocaust survivors who contend that German companies withheld $100 million from a fund for victims of Nazi-era forced labor.

The justices declined to revive a lawsuit that survivors filed against 17 companies, including BMW, Volkswagen and Deutsche Bank, that paid $2.5 billion into a reparation fund for U.S. claims.

-- Associated Press