From the AP:
The FBI violated the Constitution when agents raided U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's office last year and viewed legislative documents, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The court ordered the Justice Department to return any privileged documents it seized from the Louisiana Democrat's office on Capitol Hill. The court did not order the return of all the documents seized in the raid.
From TPM:
The raid last May of Jefferson's office, remember, caused a furor on Capitol Hill, provoking the rare alliance of then-Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who demanded that the FBI return the documents seized from Jefferson's office.
The introduction to the ruling (pdf)
Note: This decision dealt exclusively with the raid of Jefferson's Congressional office. So it shouldn't substantially affect the government's case against him.
The opinion said that FBI agents were wrong to have taken privileged (i.e. legislative) documents, the ones protected by the Speech or Debate Clause, from Jefferson's office. But by saying that, the court effectively prohibits the FBI from entering a Congressional office without the say-so of the lawmaker. Doing that creates a "fox guarding the henhouse problem," says Melanie Sloan of the CREW.
The introduction to the ruling (pdf)
Note: This decision dealt exclusively with the raid of Jefferson's Congressional office. So it shouldn't substantially affect the government's case against him.
The opinion said that FBI agents were wrong to have taken privileged (i.e. legislative) documents, the ones protected by the Speech or Debate Clause, from Jefferson's office. But by saying that, the court effectively prohibits the FBI from entering a Congressional office without the say-so of the lawmaker. Doing that creates a "fox guarding the henhouse problem," says Melanie Sloan of the CREW.
And I wonder if Ted Stevens is going to claim that the FBI raid to his home was unconstitutional.
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