Congressional protestations aside, the FBI’s search of Rep. William Jefferson’s office isn’t the greatest threat to Western Civilisation since Xerxes crossed into Europe in the 5th century B.C. For once, the Bush administration actually did it right and obtained a warrant from a court.
It’s the first time a warrant’s been obtained to search a congressional office, said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
It’s legitimate to ask whether the search was really necessary or a gratuitous effort to humiliate a legislator even beyond his ability to humiliate himself. But this dispute isn’t even in the same county as a constitutional crisis, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert should quit painting it as one.
Jefferson, a New Orleans Democrat, is being investigated on charges of accepting bribes to use his influence to promote business deals in Africa. He reportedly was videotaped accepting $100,000 in cash from an undercover informant in a sting operation. About $90,000 in marked bills allegedly was found in Jefferson’s home freezer.
The Department of Justice had attempted to subpoena certain materials from Jefferson last September, but he refused to comply. So, after eight months, the FBI got a search warrant authorizing the May 20 search of Jefferson’s office suite.
The “speech or debate clause” in Section 6, Article I of the Constitution grants members of Congress limited immunity: “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 Framers included the clause to prevent outrages like “Pride’s Purge” of December 1648 when Col. Thomas Pride arrested members of Parliament opposed to trying King Charles I for treason. But nowhere does the U.S. Constitution provide a safe haven for criminal activity. Nor should it.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., fulminated about “why the search had to be done in the middle of the night. We’ve never learned why the member in question was not permitted to have his attorneys present while his offices were searched for some 18 hours.”
“I’m not as troubled by the separation of powers arguments as the congressional folks seem to be,” said David A. Lane, a Denver lawyer who specializes in civil liberties. “Nobody is above the law, including crooked congressmen,” Lane said.
