Editor’s Note: Last year, law student extraordinaire and DCist intern Judy Coleman explored some important U.S. Supreme Court cases and their impact on the District in a feature known as Stare DCisis. This year we’re happy to have her back as something of a legal correspondent and, hopefully, pro bono lawyer. Over the summer she’ll be reporting on important legal issues and, consequently, making the rest of us look like dunces.

This DCist keeps some frozen spinach in her freezer, maybe some frozen peas once in a while. Last week, we found out Representative William Jefferson (D-Louis.) likes to keep some really leafy greens in the icebox. Last summer, Jefferson was discovered taking a bribe from a federal informant. Only recently did we find that he was stashing the money in aluminum foil and food containers in the freezer — some $90,000 worth. The FBI followed up last Saturday night with a raid of his offices. Both Majority Leader Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) have complained about the action and are demanding the return of any files seized. The search and seizure, they said, violates the Constitutional separation of powers.