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As someone who is English I find this so hard to understand. Are they saying that constitutionally you cannot search the office of a Congressman or was it way it was gone about.

I know there is the separation of powers thing which I am just about holding onto by the skin of my teeth which we do not have.

At the end of the day though to be you have either done something wrong or not and if you have then there should be powers to search in particularly your office.

I know there is the separation of powers thing which I am just about holding onto by the skin of my teeth which we do not have.

Just off the top of my head - the Constitution does provide immunity from arrest while en route to sessions of Congress, (That's what Paddy Kennedy was vabbling about when he was driving and crashing at 3 in the morning.

It would be interesting to look at the reasons this was thought important.

Are they saying that constitutionally you cannot search the office of a Congressman or was it way it was gone about.

The basis for the claimed privilege is Article I, Section VI of the Constitution, specifically this part:

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.

The argument is that searching their offices could lead to interfering with their duties and punishing them for their "speech or debate." It's a thin reed, but it's the argument.

It's a legal truism that bad cases make bad law. The danger is that, once the precedent is set, future members of Congress will be subject to searches specifically to find embarrassing dirt as punishment for their legislative positions. George Bush wouldn't do it, but a President Clinton (Bill, Hill or some like minded despot) surely would.

Since this search warrant was based specifically on a felony investigation and the Justice Department had gone through a months long attempt to compel Congressman Jefferson via subpoenae, which he'd ignored. Further they had been rebuffed by official House bodies when approached for help in obtaining the subpoenaed records. The search was the only recourse and was reasonable. A face saving way out of this, provided by President Bush's 45 day "cooling off period," is for the House and Senate to insist on a procedure for serving the warrants. They'll try to gut the practical effects of a search warrant by imposing unreasonable conditions. If Gonzalez is doing to negotiating, which I believe he will, he won't let them get away with that.

They have the Power to search the Offices of the Congressman because there was a Warrant signed by a Judge. Jefferson ignored the subpoena's for the Papers they were asking for, therefore they had no choice. The problem is that these Congress critters think that they are elite, and above the law, and this has never been done before. If this was a Businessman that had been stealing from his customers or committing fraud and taking bribes,then would not answer to the Subpoena, I am sure the elitists in Congress would have no problem with the Police, federal or local searching everything they have. They are just Beltway Kings and Queens that had to pass a law a few years back to make the Congress critters comply with all the Laws that the average American has to. Why did they need a separate law? That tells you that they were not abiding by the Rules/Laws that they wanted the Average American to abide by, like the Americans with Disabilities Law. They pass the Bills and it becomes law and they were totally ignoring them.