Constitution-smashtitution.
Congressional leaders have found a common enemy in George W Bush. He sent the FBI into the Rayburn Office Building and raided the office of a memeber of Congress. Now I am not going to defend the alleged actions of William Jefferson, but his actions do not give new powers to the executive branch. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have released a joint statement condemming the actions of the executive branch.
The implications of a new Presidential power to rifle through the offices of memebers of Congress have frightened even the Republican House leadership. When it is all said and done we all value our freedoms. If we don't stand up for each other who will?
I can't find a link to the statement so here it is:
"No person is above the law, neither the one being investigated nor those conducting the investigation.
"The Justice Department was wrong to seize records from Congressman Jefferson's office in violation of the Constitutional principle of Separation of Powers, the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution, and the practice of the last 219 years. These constitutional principles were not designed by the Founding Fathers to place anyone above the law. Rather, they were designed to protect the Congress and the American people from abuses of power, and those principles deserve to be vigorously defended.
"Accordingly, the Justice Department must immediately return the papers it unconstitutionally seized. Once that is done, Congressman Jefferson can and should fully cooperate with the Justice Department's efforts, consistent with his constitutional rights.
"In addition, the Justice Department must immediately cease any further review of the documents it unconstitutionally seized, ensure that those who have reviewed the documents do not divulge their contents to the investigators, and move in Court to vitiate the search warrant."
The implications of a new Presidential power to rifle through the offices of memebers of Congress have frightened even the Republican House leadership. When it is all said and done we all value our freedoms. If we don't stand up for each other who will?
I can't find a link to the statement so here it is:
"No person is above the law, neither the one being investigated nor those conducting the investigation.
"The Justice Department was wrong to seize records from Congressman Jefferson's office in violation of the Constitutional principle of Separation of Powers, the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution, and the practice of the last 219 years. These constitutional principles were not designed by the Founding Fathers to place anyone above the law. Rather, they were designed to protect the Congress and the American people from abuses of power, and those principles deserve to be vigorously defended.
"Accordingly, the Justice Department must immediately return the papers it unconstitutionally seized. Once that is done, Congressman Jefferson can and should fully cooperate with the Justice Department's efforts, consistent with his constitutional rights.
"In addition, the Justice Department must immediately cease any further review of the documents it unconstitutionally seized, ensure that those who have reviewed the documents do not divulge their contents to the investigators, and move in Court to vitiate the search warrant."
posted by Darren at
9:39 AM
1 Comments:
What kind of statement from a congressperson includes the word "vitiate"? The staff person that wrote that should themselves come under investigation!
By
Eric, at Friday, May 26, 2006
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