They must be arguing she comes under “breach of the peace.” US Constitution, Article 1, Section 6 ….
Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
Now, one of the things that separates the US from a lot of other democracies is that legislators don’t have broad immunity from prosecution. And that’s a very good thing — especially since there’s little history of the more crass sort of police state political prosecutions in this country and thus little risk that outweighs the danger of allowing corruption to run unchecked. But, honestly, I didn’t remember this passage in the constitution until TPM Reader SS sent it in. Setting aside the particulars of this case I’m curious whether there is much jurisprudence or case law on what this particular passage means.
If McKinney is guilty of battery or resisting arrest of something. My sense, from a constitutional perspective, is that the DC police should be handling it. Something doesn’t feel right about the capitol police proceeding against a member of Congress in this fashion, both for substantive reasons and because of shenanigans by folks in the majority. Anyone out there have any insight on this?
Late Update: This legal analysis at Findlaw suggests that this passage does not apply to criminal infractions and is, for all intents and purposes, a dead letter.
A lot of people talk about Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) being crooked or unethical. But considering the veritable lion’s den of corruption, self-dealing and criminal conduct his office turns out to have been, I think the truth may turn out to be that he was something more like a paragon of virtue. It’s just hard to figure out how else he could have worked day in and day out with so many of his key staffers and lieutenants being confessed felons without DeLay ever having gone over to the dark side, as his lawyers suggest.
As DeLay’s lawyer Richard Cullen told a conference call of reporters today, “Tom DeLay was [not] aware of the wrongs that Mr. Rudy was committing. As long as people are telling the truth, Mr. DeLay has no fear about this investigation.”
So run down the list.
Key DeLay-wired lobbyist Jack Abramoff — convicted felon.
Michael Scanlon, former DeLay aide and spokesman — convicted felon.
Tony Rudy, former DeLay deputy chief of staff — convicted felon.
Ed Buckham, former DeLay Chief of Staff and pastor — implicated in Rudy’s plea, up front costs for lobby shop funded by Abramoff clients, helped funnel Russian oil-KGB money to DeLay, Inc.
Spokesman, Deputy Chief of Staff, Chief of Staff. A few aides here and a few aides there, and pretty soon you’ve got a whole org chart.
When you put it all in perspective and stop seeing through the distorted prism of the liberal media, you start to understand DeLay was a veritable Gandhi-with-the-virgins or the one good man in Sodom when it came to ethics.
Perhaps Congress should be looking abroad for help on ethics reform.
Reuters: “Soccer referees in Nigeria can take bribes from clubs but should not allow them to influence their decisions on the field, a football official said on Friday.”
Isn’t this called the DeLay defense?
I’m no prude. And maybe I should be happy that social conservatives are getting more in touch with their bad selves. But when we were doing some due diligence today on congressional candidate Howard Kaloogian’s ‘endorsements’ list (he’d already fibbed on a few), I couldn’t help but notice that one of his endorsers is Gabrielle Reilly, who Kaloogian’s site identifies as an “International Political Activist & Swimsuit Model.”
Kaloogian’s site links to this interview Reilly did with Kaloogian at her website.
I was curious to find out more. And when I clicked on the about page on her site I found this picture of Reilly lying on the ground holding her boobs with her shorts half pulled off.
I’m not sure if this was taken during their interview or not.
Here’s her picture with the Norman Vincent Peale caption on her ‘videos’ page.
Not that I’m complaining or anything.
God, you just can’t make this stuff up.
Unless you’re Howard Kaloogian, I guess.
Now a campaign website picture of Howard at Mount Ararat (where Noah docked the boat) in Armenia turns out to be a picture of Howard chillin’ in front of Mount Palomar in California.
I guess it may be time to seriously ask whether “Howard Kaloogian” may actually be Tommy Flanagan, Jon Lovitz’s classic ‘would you believe’ pathological liar character from the 1980s Saturday Night Live.
(ed.note: Okay, okay, this one’s an April Fool’s joke courtesy of the San Diego Union Tribune. But who could know the difference at this point?)
Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) won’t leave all the bamboozlement to Kaloogian?
A new elections complaints alleges (and pretty credibly) she said she had a degree she didn’t; earlier one tagged her for bogus ‘endorsement’ by Ohio Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH).
Schmidt’s response: Okay, maybe she never got the degree. But she took enough classes to get it.
The backstory here is that these elections complaints grow out of an inter-wingnut smackdown. The complainant is the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes, an outfit founded by Schmidt’s past primary opponent Tom Brinkman.
I’m sure there’s going to be more of a story here. But it turns out that Anthony “Big Tony” Moscatiello, the guy on trial (along with two others) for whacking Gus Boulis, was an FBI informant and had been for years.
How could I ever root for the New York Yankees?
As I get older and start to put down roots in New York I realize that I want to get back into baseball. And that means picking a team. Now, ‘picking’ a team sounds a bit awkward and even antithetical to concept of fandom. It’s like picking a family. Either you’re born into it. Or thrust into it by fate and circumstance. But devoting yourself to a team is too mystical and irrational to just ‘pick.’
Still, I sorta need to pick.
When I was a kid, really until I went to college, I was a huge baseball fan. A football fan too. But really a baseball fan. I was born in St. Louis, which means I started out as a Cardinals fan. Then we moved to Los Angeles where my Dad slowly evolved into a Dodgers fan. So I was a Dodgers fan too, but always as much an Angels fan, even though my Dad, I think, found the Angels somehow a bit light and airy, perhaps just unserious, certainly not an institution worthy of real devotion.
(For those who don’t follow baseball, the California Angels were an early baseball expansion team. They only go back to the early 60s.)
Perhaps because of this lack of full and unconflicted attachment to either team, for many years, as a kid I became seriously devoted to the Pittsburgh Pirates, even though I’ve never had any connection whatsoever to the city. And I’m not sure I’ve even been to Pittsburgh save for a train stop or plane layover.
Then, at 18, I left for the east coast. I lived in New Jersey for five years. Then Rhode Island for five years. Then Boston for almost three more years. Then DC five and a half more. And now New York for about a year and a half. Somehow with all the moving and distraction of trying to figure out what to do with my life and how to make something of myself, I just lost the addiction. I dabbled with the Phillies. A bit with the Red Sox. But, somehow, it was just never long enough for it to take.
Watching a movie last night about the Boston Red Sox, I was a little surprised to consider and remember that in almost a decade living in New England I never once made it to a game at Fenway Park. But that’s the past. Now I’m here. So what to do? New York is a great baseball city. No longer four three teams, sure. But two.
But the Yankees? Becoming a Yankees fan seems almost like apostasy. Dodger fans grow up hating the Yankees. Cardinal fans to a lesser degree. But still a lot of the same. And in any case, they win too much. What makes humans objects of love or devotion or care is almost always their imperfections, the weaknesses and flaws. They are what makes us human rather than mere statues. Admiration and awe for perfection, sure. But the Yanks seem all about breaking other teams’ dreams.
Having your team win all the time is great. Believe me, I love it. But picking a team that wins all the time is just too easy. Even a bit cheap.
Now, my wife, who immigrated to this country as a small child, grew up on Long Island. So to the extent she has a team, it’s the Mets. And this is her recommendation to me. But they seem rather like the Angels, too new, somehow manufactured, really neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things. (The Mets are another expansion team.)
So I throw it out to you. Yanks fans, what do you suggest? Mets fan? Maybe even those of you who’ve moved here and there and fallen permanently out of love. Give me your thoughts.