What Constitutional Crisis?
I normally agree with Dennis Hastert and Newt Gingrich but I can’t when they’re raising constitutional issues on the raid of William Jefferson’s office. Here’s Hastert’s latest ‘contribution’ to the debate:
The FBI’s raid on a Democrat’s office rippled through Capitol Hill Wednesday, with Republicans demanding that the bureau surrender documents and other items its agents seized under what lawmakers said were unconstitutional circumstances. “I think those materials ought to be returned,” said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, adding that the FBI agents involved “ought to be frozen out of that (case) for the sake of the Constitution.”
A day earlier, the Illinois Republican complained personally to President Bush about the Saturday night raid of Rep. William Jefferson’s legislative office, saying it violated the Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine. Other House officials have predicted that the case would bring all three branches together at the Supreme Court for a constitutional showdown.
If Hastert thinks that the FBI raid is unconstitutional, then what does he think is the appropriate course to take? I know that he isn’t saying that Jefferson should have a safe haven to hide incriminating evidence. That leads me to wonder what remedy is available to collect this evidence.
Furthermore, what remedy would be effective? If the FBI were to contact Hastert’s office about gaining Jefferson’s documents, would the Capitol Police then enter Jefferson’s office and retrieve those documents?
Frankly, I doubt that the American people give a rip about this. And while I’m not worried about the constitutional issue either because a judge issued a search warrant.
UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin: “What’s The Deal With Hastert?”
HotAir: Hastert taking bribes?
Technorati Tags: William Jefferson, Corruption, Dennis Hastert
Cross-post at LetFreedomRingBlog
May 24th, 2006 at 9:21 am
[...] Cross-posted at California Conservative Categories: The Constitution, House of Representatives, Corruption | [...]
May 24th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
Bipartisan Furor Over FBI Raid
Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert demanded the return of documents seized by the FBI in a raid
May 25th, 2006 at 5:53 am
Dennis Hastert, Office Protector
I know he’s already spoken out against the raids on William Jefferson. Now, ABC’s Brian Ross is reporting this:Federal officials say the Congressional bribery investigation now includes Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, based on information from c…
May 25th, 2006 at 8:45 am
This, of course, raises the question: When did the legislature become a club of special privelege persons? I was always taught (back in the days when valuable information was actually taught, instead of being taught how to avoid pregnancy from a banana) that we had a “citizen legislature”.
If the legislators are actually citizens, aren’t they in fact subject to the same laws (outside the halls of congress, of course, where they are exempt from everything except murder) as we poor, overtaxed peons that continually pay for their every whim and wish?
Get a grip, Denny. You ain’t no demi-god, Jefferson ain’t, neither.
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