Legislators opposed to FBI raid

Posted by Moonage on 24 May 2006 | Tagged as: Opinions

House Speaker Dennis Hastert demanded Wednesday that the FBI surrender documents it seized and remove agents involved in the weekend raid of Rep. William Jefferson€™s office, under what lawmakers of both parties said were unconstitutional circumstances.

€śWe think those materials ought to be returned,€ť Hastert said, adding that the FBI agents involved €śought to be frozen out of that (case) just for the sake of the constitutional aspects of it.€ť

The Saturday night search of Jefferson€™s office on Capitol Hill brought Democrats and Republicans together in rare election-year accord, with both parties protesting agency conduct they said violated the Constitution€™s separation of powers doctrine.

They may be in accord, but IMO they are wrong and the general public’s not going to buy their argument that they are above the law.  Now, I think very strict guidelines need to be enforced on how these raids are conducted, but those laws apply to anyone.  Mainly, the can only seize evidence related only to the perceived crime committed.  And, I’m not terribly sure on this part, but I would assume the warrant has to be signed by a federal judge.  Lawyers are already starting to decipher the legalities of the event, but so far the ones I read feel this was a legal raid.   The bottom line IMO, is that if those particular legislators push this button too hard, it will bite them.  There are ways to deal with what’s happened without making it a public issue.  I think that’s the direction et al should be taking.  It just smells bad when you protest loudly when an has been busted.  It really does.

Technorati Tags:

Trackback This Post | Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

  • Banning Congressional Private travel?
  • Why are so many North Koreans in Syria?
  • 2006 Telecommunications bill
  • What the media missed
  • Bush has told some whoppers about Social Security
  • California Proposition 62
  • The Tennessee Waltz sting
  • Musharraf: World ‘less safe’
  • Abortion Ultrasound laws = emotional blackmail
  • End Slavery in the US NOW!
  • Nancy Pelosi’s destroying the country
  • Democrat Senators Forget all about what they ran for
  • Angelina Jolie supporting the surge
  • Don’t mess with Chavez’s friends
  • Time to get serious about mass transit
  • Whoopi or Not Whoopi?
  • Connecticut Democrats attempt to censure and independent?
  • Judge Perkins and Moveon
  • Dubai and Economic Nationalism
  • When astronomers tackle politics
  • « Being liberal with taxation?

    Congress bans protests at federal military funerals »