DoJ: Congress Not Above The Law

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The latest volley in the battle over the late night FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-LA) congressional office….

Last week, the General Counsel for the House of Representatives argued, on the behalf of the House leadership, that the Justice Department and FBI should have notified them before the raid in order to avoid violating the separation of powers and Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution. The search, they argued, was unconstitutional and unnecessary.

Yesterday, the Justice Department responded, holding nothing back. A taste:

House Counsel advocates several rights under the Clause for which there is no precedent and that would raise undue barriers to criminal investigations of Members of Congress, who like all citizens, are subject to the law:

– A right to advance notice of a search, not available to any other person under the Fourth Amendement….

– A right to be present at searches, not available to any other person under the Fourth Amendment….

It goes on from there.

This Friday, the three parties – Jefferson, the House, and the DoJ – will make arguments before Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan, who will decide whether to return any of the documents seized by investigators.

And remember, this is just one prong of the controversy: the House and the DoJ are in separate talks about how to conduct such searches in the future, and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) is still pressing onward with his “Reckless Justice” hearings.

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