Posted on 05/24/2006 1:00:39 PM PDT by Miss_Reagan
House Speaker Dennis Hastert demanded Wednesday that the FBI surrender documents it seized and remove agents involved in the weekend raid of Rep. William Jefferson's office, under what lawmakers of both parties said were unconstitutional circumstances.
"We think those materials ought to be returned," Hastert said, adding that the FBI agents involved "ought to be frozen out of that (case) just for the sake of the constitutional aspects of it."
The Saturday night search of Jefferson's office on Capitol Hill brought Democrats and Republicans together in rare election-year accord, with both parties protesting agency conduct they said violated the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine.
(Excerpt) Read more at lasvegassun.com ...
No. That would be the man they arrested. William Jefferson.
And it's not like Congress is increasingly appearing disconnected from the public already.
Maybe Hastert wants Congressional approval numbers to fall below %10.
wake up. 3rd party is a waste and 3rd party is for loosers in this environment today.
This is a test case.
THINK
Remember when the Nixon docs were subpoenaed? Nixon lost that one. This is the same situation in reverse.
Congress can subpoena docs.
This is not a "executive" situation. This is a criminal activity which binds all to the same law. Unless congress has exempted themselves they are going to loose this legal argument.
I think this is a test case for "leaky leahy" situations.
THAT is why the congress critters are nervious.
Their constant bickering and sniping back and forth is nothing but a show put on for all the little people out there to make them think there's a real idealogical difference. Problem is, there's not.
Say what you want about third party voting, but I am headed that way with my head held high. I intend to put principle ahead of party loyalty.
I think we have a major breakout of incumbentitis.
I am so on the fence when it comes to voting R this fall...
I would have bet that Delay would have gotten all the Republicans and most of the Democrats to vote to have the House's Sargent at Arms search the congressmans office and turn all relevant items over to the court.
It would have been hard for all but the most rabid Democrats to vote to defy the courts subpoena for this crook.
Delay would not have had the Sargent at Arms give them to the Justice Department directly... He would have had them delivered to the judge. It would have been up to the judge to give them to the prosecutors.
Asking the judge, "Is giving you exactly what you asked for Ok with you judge? rarely gets anything but thanks from the bench.
He would have had the house vote to observe the subpoena... Long before it became a consitutional issue. We might very well of has this Democrat scandal first and Pelosi would have been on the defense. I will have to check but case may even predate Ney.
If this had been done, the Judge would have been happy, the Justice Dept would have been happy, there would be no constitutional issue raised by letting it fester until an angry judge issued a search warrant.
The house needs a new speaker... one that thinks before he opens his mouth would be helpful.
[Hastert] - "We think those materials ought to be returned," Hastert said, adding that the FBI agents involved "ought to be frozen out of that (case) just for the sake of the constitutional aspects of it."
How can you say something like that in public? It shows you have not read the warrant. Like 'SE Mom' said in the other thread, where do they get there staff. If I can find the warrant online ???? He should know the agents doing the search ARE NOT ON THE CASE. So they are 'already removed'. Starting on page 74 of warrant [77 of pdf file] - there are 'SPECIAL SEARCH PROCEDURES' :
http://www.tray.com/docs/WJJeffersonRedactedAffidavit.pdf
To ensure the prosecution team does not 'view' items which may fall under the Speech or Debate Clause privilege, the search is done by 'non-case agents'. In the warrant it states the non-case agents will not disclose any politically sensitive material inadvertantly seen and will attest to this IN WRITING [if it leaked, pretty easy to track them down and].
Actually I think the DU trolls here are pretending to be mud-slinging Republicans who act like they don't need the vote of "unappeasable" "single-issue" conservatives.
No, "privileged from intimidation" is the key concept.
The Executive Branch has obtained and examined Constitutionally privileged legislative papers.
The evidence they were looking for was not privileged of course, but they had to look through the privileged documents that evidence was hidden in to find it. They took minimalization procedures, but that is what happened.
"[T]he "central role" of the Clause is to "prevent intimidation of legislators by the Executive and accountability before a possibly hostile judiciary . . ."
So Senate chambers are sacred grounds? What if there had been a human head in his freezer?
I think Hastert is shocked, shocked to find there's gambling in the casino as he's handed his winnings.
Seriously, I think he's putting up the requisite kerfuffle to give Bush the cover he needs from the loony left. If you think about it, Hastert's 'reaction' is a win-win.
• It makes the Republicans look 'law and order' and concerned with 'civil rights' and 'due process', using a warrant, etc.
• It gives them cover from the loony left
• It frames the dialogue about 'reasonable search and seizure' in a light favorable to them and takes away a loony left talking point
Contrary to the bleating of Jefferson's few defenders, (as pointed out by FReeper Dirtboy, I think) precedent was established in US v. Nixon as to the enforcement powers between the branches of government
All in all it's a win for us
Boehner (sp) had strong words to say as well.
I've posted this everywhere since I first read it last evening- but here it is again- just for fun:)
Byron York @ NRO discussing the LENGTHS the Justice Dept went to before doing this- and let's ALSO remember- a JUDGE issued this warrant- certainly he covered his butt before signing it. (You can find this at NRO at The Corner- scroll about 1/3 of the way down)
http://corner.nationalreview.com/
The government has exhausted all other reasonable methods to obtain these records in a timely manner short of requesting this search warrant. A member of Congressman Jefferson's staff has indicated to law enforcement agents that records relevant to the investigation remain in Congressman Jefferson's Capitol Hill office, which the government has been unable to obtain to date. Left with no other method, the government is proceeding in this fashion.
Then the warrant describes a set of extraordinary procedures involving not only prosecutors but also the Court, by which Congressional privileges will be respected:
To ensure the prosecution team does not inadvertently review any potentially politically sensitive, non-responsive items in the office, or information that may fall within the purview of the Speech or Debate Clause privilege, or any other pertinent privilege, the physical search of the office will be conducted by special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation who have had no substantive role in the investigation.
The non-case agents will remove from the office those paper records determined to be responsive [to a detailed list of things to be search for included at the end of the warrant request]…Other than as required to determine responsiveness, the non-case agents will not disclose to anyone any politically sensitive and non-responsive items inadvertently seen by the non-case agents during the course of the search of the office and will attest in writing to their compliance with this procedure.
Before giving any paper records seized from the office to the prosecution team, the non-case agents will deliver the seized paper records to the designated Filter Team….Prior to their appointment, the Filter Team will have had no role or connection to the investigation in this matter and their subsequent roles in the investigation will be confined to their duties and responsibilities in connection with these special procedures.
The Filter Team will review the paper records seized from the office to validate that they are responsive…Any paper records seized from the office that are determined by the Filter Team to be unresponsive…will be promptly returned to the office…
Paper records validated by the Filter Team as responsive…will undergo a second level of review by the Filter Team. The Filter Team will review the responsive records to determine if they may fall within the purview of the Speech or Debate Clause privilege or any other pertinent privilege…
For those paper records determined by the Filter Team as potentially within the purview of the Speech or Debate Clause privilege, or any other pertinent privilege, the Filter Team shall provide a log of those potentially privileged paper records to counsel for Congressman Jefferson. The log shall identify the record by date, recipient, sender and subject matter….The Filter Team shall not provide the log or copies of the potentially privileged paper records to the prosecution team, unless otherwise ordered by the Court…
The Filter Team shall then request the District Court to review the potentially privileged paper records in order for the Court to name a final determination whether they contain privileged information, unless counsel for Congressman Jefferson consents to the production to the prosecution team of certain of the potentially privileged paper records.
"No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while Congress is in session." -frequently attributed to Mark Twain or, more occasionally, Will Rogers
So, what do you think about the article?
He protesteth too much.
My guess is that there are some on both sides. The point is to create anger and distrust, which requires that the pot be constantly stirred. The point is simply to get us pulling against each other by forcing us to become completely entrenched in our positions.
To be frank, I don't think it is working quite as well as it appears.
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