CREW to Boner & Pelosi: Stop Protecting Members of the House involved in criminal activity.

CREW:

Today, CREW sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner asking that the House leaders start cooperating with law enforcement authorities pursuing legitimate criminal investigations involving members of Congress. The letter can be found here.

Leaders of the House have been improperly shielding members of Congress – including former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) -- from criminal investigation and prosecution through an expansive and aggressive interpretation of the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution.

Members of Congress, like all other citizens, can hire attorneys to ensure that their constitutional rights are protected; this is not, however, the job of the House general counsel, hired at taxpayer expense.

A key excerpt from CREW's letter to Pelosi and Boehner:

Members of Congress are not above the law, but the House's aggressive use of the Speech and Debate Clause to impede law enforcement authorities from investigating members' potentially illegal activities is unseemly.