Judge: FBI raid on lawmaker's office legal (Louisiana Democrat Rep. William Jefferson )

AP on Yahoo ^ | 7/10/06 | Toni Locy - ap

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - An FBI raid on a Louisiana congressman's Capitol Hill office was legal, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said members of Congress are not above the law. He rejected requests from lawmakers and Democratic Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record) to return material seized by the FBI in a May 20-21 search of Jefferson's office.

In a 28-page opinion, Hogan dismissed arguments that the first-ever raid on a congressman's office violated the Constitution's protections against intimidation of elected officials.

"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.

Jefferson had sought the return of several computer hard drives, floppy disks and two boxes of paper documents that FBI agents seized during an 18-hour search of his Rayburn Building office.

At issue was a constitutional provision known as the speech and debate clause, which protects elected officials from being questioned by the president, a prosecutor or a plaintiff in a lawsuit about their legislative work.

"No one argues that the warrant executed upon Congressman Jefferson's office was not properly administered," Hogan wrote. "Therefore, there was no impermissible intrusion on the Legislature. The fact that some privileged material was incidentally captured by the search does not constitute an unlawful intrusion."

The raid on Jefferson's office angered members of Congress, some of whom threatened to retaliate by tinkering with the FBI and Justice Department budgets.

President Bush stepped in and ordered the solicitor general to take custody of the seized materials so Congress and the Justice Department could work out procedures to deal with similar situations in the future.

The president's 45-day "cooling off period" ended Sunday with no compromise worked out but with assurances from the Justice Department that it would not seek to regain custody of the materials until Hogan ruled on Jefferson's request.

[NormsRevenge]

FBI agents load the back of a minivan at the Rayburn House Office Building 'horseshoe' entrance on Capitol Hill in Washington after continuing their of the offices of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., in the May 21, 2006 file photo. Prosecutors and investigators building a bribery case against Jefferson have been unable to examine the documents and computer files seized in the search of Capitol Hill office. The materials were placed off limits for 45 days by President Bush, who decreed a cooling-off period after congressional leaders denounced the May 20-21 search as an unprecedented and unconstitutional intrusion on their turf by federal agents. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File)

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said members of Congress are not above the law."

Heh.

[eraser2005]

Beat me by seconds... :) I couldn't post my thread fast enough.. :P

[Michael.SF.]

This is headed to SCOTUS, which will buy the Dems enough time to relect this POS.

[jpl]

More importantly, when can we look forward to this guy Jefferson joining Duke Cunningham in prison?

[Onelifetogive]

The materials were placed off limits for 45 days by President Bush...

The fact that the "cooling-off" period put the issue 1 1/2 months closer to the fall elections is purely coincidental.....hehehehe!

[JerseyDvl]

I am pleasantly surprised that Senators are not above the common man's laws.

[NormsRevenge]

I had heard the news on bottom of the hour radio news, saw the ap pop up on yahoo and went to work soon as I saw it.

luck of the draw.. ;-)

[Media Cat]

Well strike one up for the rule of law.

[NormsRevenge]

The president's 45-day "cooling off period" ended Sunday ..

Let the examinations of the seized goods begin.. none has to this point.,, no appeal court will overturn this Judge .. adequate precautions have been taken..

Paging Nancy Pelosi.

Better Put some ice on it..

[lucky american]

They are elected by the People and for the People and they are subject to all the laws that apply to the People. They are not above the law. These guys are employed by us, use offices paid by us. What was so hard for the courts to figure out that they are not above the law! sarc off/
This was a big surprise coming from the courts.

[GoBucks2002]

Tonight would be a good time for law enforcement to hang around the House and Senate Office Buildings and see who is working late, running the shredders past their design capacities, and carrying lots of boxes out.

[jazusamo]

Good for Judge Hogan, at least there's one judge who gets it.

[livius]

LOL! Power surge at the Senate office building!

[Dog]

Excellent...

[Dog]

I can here the whining ...

This will have a chilling effect on us as we go about our duties as public servants..

/sarcasm!

[klute]

No suprise here since he signed the search warrant to search Jefferson's office. Let's hope the appeals turn out the same way.

[TheDon]

"The fact that some privileged material was incidentally captured by the search does not constitute an unlawful intrusion."

Ding! Ding! Ding!

[4yearlurker]

Wait a minute.....does the judge know that this particular congressman is a black Democrat? If he knows this then it is obvious that the judge is a racist. (sarcasm off now)