Search On Jefferson Office Ruled Legal

Posted on July 10, 2006

The FBI raid on Rep. Jefferson’s office was ruled completely legal today.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan rejected requests from lawmakers and Rep. William Jefferson to return material seized by the FBI in a May 20-21 search of Jefferson’s office.

The overnight search was part of a 17-month bribery investigation of Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat.

In a 28-page opinion, Hogan dismissed arguments by Jefferson and a bipartisan group of House leaders that the raid violated the Constitution’s protections against intimidation of elected officials.

Hogan acknowledged the “unprecedented” nature of the case. But he said the lawmakers’ “sweeping” theory of legislative privilege “would have the effect of converting every congressional office into a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime.”

A member of Congress is bound by the same laws as ordinary citizens, said the judge, who had approved the FBI’s request to conduct the overnight search of Jefferson’s office.

No one is above the law, not even a Congressman, right? It seems to be the democrats “culture of corruption” mantra until it is one of their own. If there is a loophole they can find its ok to be above the law.

The ruling was quite harsh on the idiots that took this case before the court.

If there is any threat to the separation of powers here, it is not from the execution of a search warrant by one co-equal branch of government upon another, after the independent approval of the third separate, and co-equal branch. Rather, the principle of the separation of powers is threatened by the position that the Legislative Branch enjoys the unilateral and unreviewable power to invoke an absolute privilege, thus making it immune from the ordinary criminal process of a validly issued search warrant. This theory would allow Members of Congress to frustrate investigations into non-legislative criminal activities for which the Speech or Debate Clause clearly provides no protection from prosecution.