Capitol Offense

You may recall a vignette from Katrina, a local congressman commandeering a military vehicle to remove his personal possessions from his house---apparently a matter of personal privilege reserved for the "people's representative". That was Rep. William Jefferson, (D-La), whose congressional offices have now been searched under a warrant, prompting an outcry from House Speaker Hastert over separation of powers.

But many of us wonder what separates Congress from the rest of us, who must abide by the law. The Sun Times has a common sense editorial today:

The FBI's raid on the congressional offices of Rep. William Jefferson spawned an unusual bipartisan rebellion last week, making it appear the search was a clear violation of the constitutional separation of powers. But we're not so sure the U.S. Constitution endows each lawmaker with a little sanctum, forever walled off from law enforcement -- especially when a congressman ignores a subpoena and the FBI has a warrant and what appear to be pretty solid motives.

Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat who represents New Orleans, is being investigated for allegedly taking bribes to promote business ventures in Africa. Two people have already pleaded guilty to bribing him, and the FBI says it has a tape of him taking $100,000 in bribes last summer. It says an earlier raid on his house yielded $90,000 of that cash stashed in his freezer, wrapped in foil and stuffed into plastic containers. Jefferson says "There are two sides to this story," but he hasn't told his yet, other than to deny wrongdoing.

Critics of the raid said it violated the Constitution's "speech and debate" protections. The relevant section says that lawmakers "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 be questioned in any other place."

There is no explicit ban on searching congressional offices -- it's more a matter of tradition. Tradition shouldn't give lawmakers immunity from criminal investigations.

And we already have the recent spectacle of Congressman Patrick Kennedy invoking the speech and debate clause to evade arrest after crashing into Capitol Police barriers in the wee hours of the morning, saying he was on the way to a vote.

To those worried about the slippery slope to a police state (earlier thoughts on that here), I think a little common sense is in order. After all, such necessary law enforcement actions will make Congress think twice about infringing on the rights of Americans, and perhaps have the unexpected benefit of reining in those who engage in corrupt practices on Capitol Hill.

Not to mention freeing up our law enforcement to concentrate on combatting national security priorities at home.

UPDATE: More Capitol Hill shenanigans from Democrat Senate Minority Leader, the sanctimonious Harry Reid. Captain's Quarters here.