Padilla's attorneys also refer in their brief to the ongoing controversy about President Bush's authorization of the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without court approval on communications inside the United States so long as the end of the communication is overseas.

CNN: Feds to high court: Allow Padilla move

The split vote on compromise rules without legal authorization to implement them was a pragmatic decision in the face of more pressing business at the agency.

FORBES: Deep in the Net Neutrality Trenches