Why the Republicans Are Wrong
In addition to the democrats, that is.
As some of you have already heard, Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) is under investigation for bribery and other related crimes. The FBI already has him on video taking a $100,000 bribe. On a side note, just to show you what kind of guy he is, in the days following hurricane Katrina, while people were still trapped in New Orleans, he had the national guard take him to his house, and when their vehicle got stuck in the mud, he refused the helicopter that was initially sent to retrieve him and demanded another land vehicle come to get him.
Anyways, getting to the point of all of this, the FBI raided his congressional office the other day to seize evidence. Now, various members of the House -- including the Republican leadership -- is claiming that the separation of powers was violated (the FBI is of course part of the executive branch). Now, this is the kind of ridiculous argument I'd expect from the democrats, but I'm severely disappointed in the Republicans for echoing it.
Majority Leader John Boehner wondered "whether the people at the Justice Department have looked at the Constitution." I think Boehner needs to consult the Constitution. Members of Congress do not have a constitutional right to hide evidence of felonies in their congressional offices. The constitution states that members of Congress "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." Nowhere does it say that they are immune from investigation, including searches, and even the proscription against arrest does not apply because it was a felony.
Speaker Dennis Hastert has demanded that the agents who conducted the raid be removed from the case -- but the agents who conducted the raid were not on the case to begin with! Yeah, I know, that doesn't seem to make much sense, but look at the first post link below. A sidenote on Hastert, that ABC news report linking him with criminal investigation in the Abramoff matter is completely bogus, filled with weasel words and misleading innuendo.
Not only does the Congressional vs. Executive branch argument fail on Constitutional grounds, it also fails because the FBI had a search warrant in the case. What does that mean, you ask? It means the Judicial branch was also involved and came down squarely on the side of the Executive.
Relevant posts concerning this issue by Byron York and Andy McCarthy, including background information and legal issues can be found here (mostly background information about the extreme lengths the FBI went to to avoid improper conduct), here (involving a bit of a legal analysis), here, and here. I highly recommend reading the first one, in the very least, just to show what absurd lengths the FBI went to just to avoid the slightest appearance of impropriety (not that that's worked).
Bush has also acted rather dumbly on this issue, with the sealing of the seized evidence for 45 days. Jefferson is a criminal, he should be dealt with, not given special privilege.
Not only do the actions of the Republican leadership not make any ethical sense, they don't make any political sense, either. Is this winning them any votes? The democrats have been smearing them as the party of corruption, and in this case, even though the congressman at issue is a democrat, the Republicans have been bending over backwards to help him cover up.
Like I said at the beginning, the dems have hardly been innocent in all of this, but that's unfortunately expected. The behavior of the Republicans, however, I find particularly egregious.
UPDATE: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has said some reasonable things since I first posted this; it's nice to see one Republican leader in Congress do so.
As some of you have already heard, Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) is under investigation for bribery and other related crimes. The FBI already has him on video taking a $100,000 bribe. On a side note, just to show you what kind of guy he is, in the days following hurricane Katrina, while people were still trapped in New Orleans, he had the national guard take him to his house, and when their vehicle got stuck in the mud, he refused the helicopter that was initially sent to retrieve him and demanded another land vehicle come to get him.
Anyways, getting to the point of all of this, the FBI raided his congressional office the other day to seize evidence. Now, various members of the House -- including the Republican leadership -- is claiming that the separation of powers was violated (the FBI is of course part of the executive branch). Now, this is the kind of ridiculous argument I'd expect from the democrats, but I'm severely disappointed in the Republicans for echoing it.
Majority Leader John Boehner wondered "whether the people at the Justice Department have looked at the Constitution." I think Boehner needs to consult the Constitution. Members of Congress do not have a constitutional right to hide evidence of felonies in their congressional offices. The constitution states that members of Congress "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." Nowhere does it say that they are immune from investigation, including searches, and even the proscription against arrest does not apply because it was a felony.
Speaker Dennis Hastert has demanded that the agents who conducted the raid be removed from the case -- but the agents who conducted the raid were not on the case to begin with! Yeah, I know, that doesn't seem to make much sense, but look at the first post link below. A sidenote on Hastert, that ABC news report linking him with criminal investigation in the Abramoff matter is completely bogus, filled with weasel words and misleading innuendo.
Not only does the Congressional vs. Executive branch argument fail on Constitutional grounds, it also fails because the FBI had a search warrant in the case. What does that mean, you ask? It means the Judicial branch was also involved and came down squarely on the side of the Executive.
Relevant posts concerning this issue by Byron York and Andy McCarthy, including background information and legal issues can be found here (mostly background information about the extreme lengths the FBI went to to avoid improper conduct), here (involving a bit of a legal analysis), here, and here. I highly recommend reading the first one, in the very least, just to show what absurd lengths the FBI went to just to avoid the slightest appearance of impropriety (not that that's worked).
Bush has also acted rather dumbly on this issue, with the sealing of the seized evidence for 45 days. Jefferson is a criminal, he should be dealt with, not given special privilege.
Not only do the actions of the Republican leadership not make any ethical sense, they don't make any political sense, either. Is this winning them any votes? The democrats have been smearing them as the party of corruption, and in this case, even though the congressman at issue is a democrat, the Republicans have been bending over backwards to help him cover up.
Like I said at the beginning, the dems have hardly been innocent in all of this, but that's unfortunately expected. The behavior of the Republicans, however, I find particularly egregious.
UPDATE: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has said some reasonable things since I first posted this; it's nice to see one Republican leader in Congress do so.
posted by DC | 3:20 PM
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