Posted on 07/10/2006 1:36:15 PM PDT by 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.
Not a surprise here.
This last week has been an incredible legal boon to conservatism. It's kinda weird. It is as though the drugs of the 60's finally wore off.
I suspect it is only temporary though - like a Mariners win.
About time someone told Congress that
I hear strains of "Had a Bad Day" coming from the Dem. caucus room. More bad news for the bad guys.
isn't he also the judge that signed the warrant for the raid as well?
thanks, saw that after asking my question.
glad to see he doesn't overule himself.
Hopefully, some of the recent results are a reflection of the influx of conservatism on the federal bench.
I hope so. And it isn't just conservatism. It is maturity and clear thinking. I have felt about our government and courts lately that they make the kinds of decisions that would be made by judges elected from the pool of kids in Neverland. It is just not believeable what nonsensical decisions they would make.
BTTT
William Jefferson (Democrat of Louisiana) BUMP! ~ PING!
Scandal Woes Likely to Benefit William Jefferson
Losing his seat on the influential Ways and Means Committee and being investigated in a federal bribery probe could actually benefit U.S. Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) in his bid for reelection, said Ken Moore, professor of political science at the University of Louisiana. "Being seen as a taker of bribes will probably help him with the typical Louisiana Democratic voter. Yielding to temptation makes him more human. Working the system to extract extra benefits makes him crafty. These are traits admired by the chiselers and parasites that comprise the voting base in this state."
According to Moore, the eight-term congressman is going to say: "I took these turkeys for plenty. I can do the same for the citizens of Louisiana. This is essential to relieving our people of the effort and expense of the Katrina cleanup."
"In Louisiana, corruption or bribery or incompetence has never been a bar to holding office -- or returning to office," Moore noted. In support of his contention, Moore pointed to the reelection of Ray Nagin as mayor of New Orleans. "Here we had a clueless boob responsible for untold suffering due to his incompetent handling of the Katrina disaster getting reelected by playing the 'race card.' The road map for Jefferson's reelection campaign has been clearly laid out for him."
read more...
http://www.azconservative.org/Column_Archives.htm
I have a feeling (but only a feeling) that by more conservative judges being appointed it has affected rulings by some of the fence sitters who in the past have fallen in line with liberals. The next couple years will tell the tale IMO.
Was William Jefferson Clinton named after the Congressman?
Billy seems to have acted like him.
a sad reflection indeed on the people of Louisiana
Are there about 900 of those so-called "documents," clearly distinguished by a rather greenish picture of Ben Franklin on the obverse side.
"This will have a chilling effect on us as we go about our duties as public servants.."
LOL Yeah! They'll have to be more circumspect when taking bribes!
Good for Judge Hogan. He ruled correctly and surprised a few of us doubters that a Chief US District Judge could rule the right way.
You half to admit that Dollar Bill did pull himself up from his modest beginnings. Why, he went from ripping off the LA poor as a slum landlord to ripping off wealthy entrepreneurs and African dictators as a member of the US Congress.
In New Orleans, that's progress!
Now we have precedent.
Encore ! Encore!
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