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 ...
Welcome to FR.
Hastert's a jackass! Member's of Congress are NOT above the law. Period.
Didn't the House's lawyers try to keep the Feebies from getting their hands on the docs in the first place?
Just heard on CNN News that Jefferson's lawyer's are going to court to get the FBI to return the materials they took under the separation of powers argument...........
Correct!
Sounds like they're all terrified that their crimes will be discovered.
Art 1 Sec 6 says there is no such protection for a Felony.
I hope some of you are calling that bastid Hasert!
This stuff is F U B A R
http://www.therealitycheck.org/StaffWriter/erush052206.htm
Go Ahead! Throw Your Vote Away!
by Erik Rush
Kodos (a space alien): It’s true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about it? It’s a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us.
Man: He’s right; this is a two-party system.
Homer: Well, I believe I’ll vote for a third-party candidate
Kang (also a space alien): Go ahead! Throw your vote away!
- From The Simpsons
All right - here’s the deal: One of the things the puerile and power-mad on the far Left did right was in taking over the Democrat Party. They didn’t start the PPM (Puerile and Power-mad) Party – unless you count the Greens, by whom we don’t seem to be in any immediate danger of being taken over. From the entrenched elites (like Ted Kennedy), to ego-driven international socialists (like the Clintons), to the commie pinko you-know-whats old White guys used to go on about, they knew they were not going to conquer America via socialist revolution, as did some in the ‘Sixties and in Jack Reed’s day. It took them awhile to do it, but strategy and patience finally paid off.
We could take a lesson from this, but to my distress I hear more and more of this “let’s send a message to the Republicans” by voting for Democrats, third parties or not voting dreck amongst Independent conservatives and even some of the GOP base. And what message might that be - “I’m an impatient, immature idiot who’d rather shoot a hole in the bottom of the boat in order to drown my enemy therein and make some sort of point to those who can’t agree upon which direction to row”?
Yes, the GOP leadership (like much of America) needs to wake up. Yes, the Bush administration should be exponentially more aggressive on just about every front. Yes, we have to many consummate political whores and RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) in the party, and hypocrites who are no better than the Democrat hypocrites whose egos and pocketbooks come ahead of their constituents.
The problem is that we want everything too damn fast. Of course there are cowards within the ranks, but there are also conservative politicians who realize that what American conservatives want can’t be accomplished overnight. Too many of us don’t have the patience for that. The Soviet Union was prepared to go on forever, even if it came down to the Politburo collectively whipping a days’ work out of the last starving slave. Strategy and patience on America’s part saw to it that this did not occur. Think about the patience of radical Islam. They didn’t subjugate the world 1,000 years ago – but they were prepared to wait until now.
Republicans are not going to reform the party by scuttling it. Nor are frustrated conservatives going to put across the sane message of America as a constitutional republic by trying to win votes for the SMACR (Sane Message for America as a Constitutional Republic) Party. It can be accomplished through the election of fearless conservatives. These are generally identified by the fact that they speak their minds and don’t give a rip who becomes incensed, how much bad press they get, or how many puerile, power-mad far-Lefters call them Nazis, homophobes, theocrats, Oreos, or the rest of the standard schoolyard invective. They also don’t pay much attention to the snivelers in their own party. Among these are people like Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Steve King, Marilyn Musgrave, Wayne Allard, Rick Santorum and Jeff Sessions. These and others of promise like them should be rewarded with support – the rest should be shot out of the nearest cannon.
The reward could (someday) be a Congress and an administration that actually puts the American people first. No, it won’t be easy for loyal Republican conservatives to shoot their snivelers out of a cannon; every vote on Capitol Hill counts, of course. But better that than having cowards in the foxholes with them. It will require vertebral fortitude to cull their own weak whilst also attempting to shake America awake - as the enemy waits, slavering at the door.
Change the name from The Capitol Building to The Hideout.
When I sent an e-mail and in my voicemail message I said that Hastert is wrong about how it's unconstitutional to search a Congressman's office.
I referred him to this link which states:
In U.S. v. Nixon, the court held that executive privilege did not extend to preventing criminal investigations. The court said:
We conclude that when the ground for asserting privilege as to subpoenaed materials sought for use in a criminal trial is based only on the generalized interest in confidentiality, it cannot prevail over the fundamental demands of due process of law in the fair administration of criminal justice. The generalized assertion of privilege must yield to the demonstrated, specific need for evidence in a pending criminal trial.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=418&page=683
Credit Dirtboy for finding that link.
US Constitution, Article ISection. 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.
There's nothing in there that prevents searches or other criminal investigations, nor anything that prevents criminal indictment. The language doesn't even make it clear whether Members have protection from arrest when not in the Capitol buildings or traveling to or from same.
I'd like to know just how many lawyers are involved in trying to keep the Feds from those docs. And just who in Hades those shysters are working for.
Well, Hastret is merely protecting Congresses right to be free from intimidation from the Executive. Can you imagine if Clinton's justice department had used bogus investigations to intimidate congress? Hell, look at what they did with FBI files.
Still, Hastret's concerns are misplaced in this instance since the FBI obtained a lawful warrant from the JUDICIARY. Honestly, lets have this out in court. I am sick of congress trampling over separation of powers and then expecting the principle to apply to them.
I'd trust an honest Dem more than I'd trust a RINO.
Sounds like Felony to me.
What an utter disconnect from the people and the Constitution.
I've never been impressed by Hastert. Now I actively dislike him.
A Rat is caught at a perfect time for us. It's one of the few bits of good news we have. It puts the alleged Republican corruption into perspective. It muddles the Rats' message. And a Republican "leader" comes to the crooked Rat's defense and steals the headlines we were getting. He also manages to demoralize the base even further. No wonder we can't govern. Now wonder we lose
even when we "win."
Nice job, you fat, dumb fart. You always looked and sounded stupid. Now we know that you are.
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