Stepping away for a minute from the on-going allegations of corruption in Connecticut, a federal judge has ruled that the FBI's raid on Representative William Jefferson's (D-La.) congressional office did not violate the Speech and Debate Clause.
See here (And yes, I have purposefully linked to FOX News for all of you to enjoy).
In the opinion, Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan stated: "Congress' capacity to function effectively is not threatened by permitting congressional offices to be searched pursuant to validly issued search warrants," said Hogan, who had approved the FBI's request to conduct the overnight search of Jefferson's office."
I have not read the complete opinion yet, but I do find this comment troubling because of the potentially sensitive information that a congressman/woman or senator may have in their possession. I'm looking forward to seeing if Judge Hogan's opinion addresses this issue.
Source, FOX News website, Judge Rules FBI Raid on Rep. Jefferson's Office Was Legal, July 10, 2006
6 comments:
Welcome to Connecitcut Local Poltics?
Come on man, take a joke. I see what you're saying...just ribbing you.
Well-written opinion by Judge Hogan. Spends most of his analysis on the speech or debate clause. Jefferson's principle argument was that the surprise search did not give him ample opportunity to segregate his privileged material from his non-privileged material. The judge was shall we say, very practical in his explanation about why that sort of approach would not work.
It would have been like delegating to Nixon the authority to decide which tapes to turn over.
TrueGent, I think you're being too subtle in defense of this post. I do think that prospectively, the lesson to Congressmen is to have a secret lair with a safe somewhere outside their office for storing illicitly-gained cash and documentation.
No prob.
Actually, this ruling is VERY scary for obvious reasons.
If this ruling stands, we're living in danergous times indeed.
Am I reading correctly here that the same judge Hogan who initially approved the FBI's search warrant also got to decide whether his granting of that warrant was legal or not?
Banana Republic what?
There's a stay right now anyway pending appeal.
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