denny and nancy sitting in a tree…

In these highly partisan times it takes a lot to bring House Speaker Denny Hastert and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi together, but the issues surrounding the FBI raid on Representative William Jefferson’s Congressional offices struck a nerve by undermining two vitally important Constitutional principles:

1. The separation of powers among the various branches of government.
2. The separation of Congressmen from the various branches of the federal prison system.

And so you have bipartisan support condemning the FBI’s actions as a violation of The Speech and Debate Clause that clearly states:

“Senators and Representatives . . . shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the session of their respective Houses, an in going to and returning from same; and for any other Speech and Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.”

Congress has long considered this provision to be a blanket “get out of jail free” card. Maybe not as good as being a Kennedy, but close.

However, there are those who question this interpretation of the provision, basing their narrow view on a highly technical reading of the clause in which they focus purely on tangential details such as “words.” While some may claim these so-called words have meaning, it is clear from recent Supreme Court decisions that that is simply not the case.

The Attorney General’s office also vigorously defended the actions of the FBI. “We went and got a search warrant and everything,” an aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales protested. “It is true we didn’t have much experience in that area but we went the extra mile and did a LexisNexis search so we’d know what the procedure was. Did you know you have to go before a judge with evidence of probable cause and convince him to sign the thing? Wild, wild stuff. Anyway, we went through the whole tedious process, but you should have heard Dick Cheney screaming, haha. That one is going to make the office Christmas tape for sure.”

The search followed the discovery last year of $90,000 in cash in Jefferson's freezer in his home in Washington. The Congressman’s supporters point out that there is a completely innocent explanation for this find:

Paper route.

Regardless of the guilt or innocence of Jefferson, the important Constitutional questions that have been raised must be explored in a responsible and open-minded manner.  That is why we are fortunate to have a statesman like Representative F. James Sensenbrenner who has already scheduled hearings on the matter for next Tuesday called, “Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?”

Or is that meant to be rhetorical?

UPDATE: President Bush has since ordered that the documents collected in the search be sealed for 45 days.

Hastert and Pelosi, obviously still in that early stage of their relationship where they just have to, have to, do everything together, issued a joint statement they wrote while sharing a rootbeer float: “Today, we are directing the House counsel to begin negotiations with the Department of Justice regarding the protocols and procedures to be followed in connection with evidence of criminal conduct that might exist in the offices of members.”

Here’s a thought, and we’re just throwing this out purely for argument’s sake:  Let’s say, hypothetically speaking, that when a member of Congress is videotaped accepting a $100,000 bribe, has $90,000 of it discovered in his freezer, and then refuses to comply with lawful subpoenas for eight months then, and only then, may the FBI consider securing a search warrant for his congressional offices.

Just trying to strike "the right balance" here.

J.