Hastert tells President Bush FBI raid was unconstitutional

The Hill ^ | 5/24/06 | Patrick O'Connor

[Kakaze]

" “When I raise my right hand and swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States, I mean it,” Boehner said, referring to the oath members take at the beginning of each Congress. “[Justice Department employees] take the same oath, so somebody better start reading the Constitution down there.” "

I think they did uphold their oath.......didn't they just execute the part about protecting the United States from enimies both foreign and DOMESTIC?

[justche]

“The institution has a right to protect itself against the executive branch going into our offices and violating what is the Speech and Debate Clause that essentially says, ‘That’s none of your business, executive branch,’” Hoyer said.
__________________________
Am I totally missing the point here? They are saying their offices are off limits for investigations unless they clear it? How on earth are they interpreting it this way?

What exactly is the Speech and Debate clause anyway?

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

You can darned well betcha that if this raid had been on a Republican, no one would be complaining.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

You can darned well betcha that if this raid had been on a Republican, no one would be complaining.

[SquirrelKing]

Republican leadership

I believe that is called an "oxymoron".

[ThreePuttinDude]

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) told President Bush yesterday that he is concerned the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) congressional office over the weekend was a direct violation of the Constitution.

What does Hastert have to hide? All the facts are clear, the Rat was caught,
not a debatable issue. Hastert must be covering here for something else.

[tongue-tied]

Any constitutional lawyers, or anyone with some knowledge of this please explain.

Apparently the FBI as a section (branch?) of the judicial cannot investigate the legislative (congress/senate). But then who would be tasked with this?

[mystery-ak]

If this is the case they can hide anything they want in their offices on Cap Hill....

[HangnJudge]

Does anyone remember the Contract with America?
In it the Republicans pledged to require all laws that apply to the rest of the country, also apply to Congress

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_with_America

Government reform
On the first day of their majority, the Republicans promised to hold floor votes on eight reforms of government operations:

Require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply to Congress;
select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;

cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
limit the terms of all committee chairs;

ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;

require committee meetings to be open to the public;

require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;

and implement a zero base-line budgeting process for the annual Federal Budget.

I remember the contract well, Gingrich pushed for it
and I believed him.
Did Hastert and Frist agree with this contract?
If so, then they agreed to
Require all laws that apply to the rest of the country
also apply to Congress

Going against this is going to seriously bite them bad...
Their Republican base will revolt en mass, including me

[InterceptPoint]

It is an interesting question that is being raised here.

Suppose that some Dem Congressman was selling drugs out of his office to the Dem Staffers. Would he not be subject to a search of his office? Would it take "an act of Congress" to see if he had drugs in his office? What if the Dems were the majority - would they move an inch? I don't think so.

Methinks this is simply a question of law and breaking the law and not separation of powers. OTOH, I'm betting that the Supremes will get to decide that issue because this guy is going to go kicking and screaming to court asking them to throw out any evidence they gathered from his office. And he will probably call that idiot Hastert as a witness.

[Crooked Constituent]

I'm so sick of this crap that I don't care if democrats take the house and senate. At least we will be watching people who know how to play politics.

[K-oneTexas]

I think you've hit it square on.

So if we think about it if there is bribery occurring in the halls of the Capitol, or "cooking the books" or even a group of plotters or terrorist there and evidence of their action was there ... the FBI or any law enforcement agencies could not enter and get that evidence.

I bet Enron or Arkadelphia or Tyco, et al wish their offices were there.

I muse too much. We all know how upstanding our elected officials are.

[CyberAnt]

Well .. just because congress doesn't think it's liable .. doesn't mean it is.

[Bahbah]

“I am sure there will be a lot more said about this,” Boehner said.

It would be the wiser course to not do so. Don't confirm the perception of the voters that you truly do believe yourselves to be above the law because of your "special" status. Or you could dig an even deeper hole.

[Cementjungle]

The whole thing is stupid. They issued search warrants last August on his homes, which he fought in court (fought to keep them sealed). It's not like he hasn't had more thn enough time to clean out his files in his office.

[tongue-tied]

Self post for this: This may explain why those missing FBI files turned up with Hillary's fingerprints all over them; if they had been Bill's it could be construed as a separation of powers violation.

[justche]

interesting article.

[lepton]

“The institution has a right to protect itself against the executive branch going into our offices and violating what is the Speech and Debate Clause that essentially says, ‘That’s none of your business, executive branch,’” Hoyer said.

And that should be protected...however, there apparently was pretty strong probable cause, and the clause in question is not a shield against legitimate prosecution for crimes not related to speech. If it WERE related to speech, then the law itself would be unconstitutional.

[TheConservator]

The Senators and Representatives . . . 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.

U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 6.

Doesn't say anything about a privilege against having your office searched, pursuant to warrant, in the case of a suspected felony.

There is no legitimate constitutional issue here, and the Congresscritters know it.

[Doe Eyes]

Does Congress have the power to order searches of the White House?