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Federal Court Rules FBI Raid on Jefferson’s Office Unconstitutional

The FBI violated the Constitution when agents raided U.S. Rep. William Jefferson’s office last year and viewed legislative documents, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The court ordered the Justice Department to return any privileged documents it seized from the Louisiana Democrat’s office on Capitol Hill. The court did not order the return of all the documents seized in the raid.

Jefferson argued that the raid trampled on congressional independence. The Justice Department said declaring the search unconstitutional would essentially prohibit the FBI from ever looking at a lawmaker’s documents.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with Jefferson on the constitutional issue.

“The review of the Congressman’s paper files when the search was executed exposed legislative material to the Executive,” and violated the Constitution, the court wrote. “The Congressman is entitled to the return of documents that the court determines to be privileged.”

Source.

Written by ~J~

6 Responses to “Federal Court Rules FBI Raid on Jefferson’s Office Unconstitutional”

  1. Sue Says:

    August 3rd, 2007 at 1:34 pm
    Visit Sue

    I would hope the Justice Department will appeal this to the USSC.

    If this stands, then becoming a member of Congress comes with more “perks” than anyone could have ever imagined.

  2. david Says:

    August 3rd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
    Visit david

    Sue-this isn’t as bad as it seems in the media. The bribery documents, if any exist, are not privileged. The Court ruled that Jefferson should have had an opportunity to claim privilege. The Court did not rule any particular documents were privilege. The way this is handled in Court is that the Judge reviews the documents that are claimed to be privileged “in camera”, which means only the Judge sees them until the claim of privilege is decided. Besides, it doesn’t effect the cold cash in his (what? refrigerator–can’t recall) at his home. From a lawyer’s point of view, it’s not a very significant ruling. Obviously, members of Congress will have some confidential information. If he was stupid enough to have left a paper trail, it’s not privileged.

  3. Sue Says:

    August 3rd, 2007 at 2:14 pm
    Visit Sue

    Thanks David.

    In essence then, you are saying this will in no way affect the case against him otherwise? In my opinion it would be a great travesty to see this man walk.

    I guess I should know better..very few things are ever as bad as the media paints them today.:)

    Thanks again for the great explanation.

  4. david Says:

    August 4th, 2007 at 8:21 am
    Visit david

    Good morning-just to follow up, this will not effect the case against him. Any incriminating documents cannot be claimed to be priviliged. I thought more about this last evening, and (forgetting about Jefferson or political affiliation), it’s a wise ruling. If a member of Congress is legitimating investigating an ethics charge, as one example, those documents should not be available (leaked) until the investigation is finished. In any law enforcement case, the rule is that on-going investigations are confidential. I doubt the judge will find anything confidential in Jefferson’s office, but I don’t know what committees he served on during the relevant time frame.

  5. ~J~ Says:

    August 4th, 2007 at 9:14 am
    Visit ~J~

    Thanks for your insight, David, and as always thanks for visiting. :x

  6. Guss Says:

    August 4th, 2007 at 10:25 am
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    David, he served on the ways and means committee