Separating the Powers That Be

We're now hearing about members of Congress, including GOP leadership, complaining about the search of the Congressional office of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) in the course of a criminal investigation.

They're complaining that this violates the separation of powers and may be unconstitutional. This argument is a hollow one and while they're trying to claim the high ground by keeping the Executive and Judiciary out of the business of Congress, no one in this country is above the law, including members of Congress.

The relevant law, which one should recall from Rep. Patrick Kennedy's run in with a security barrier a few weeks back:

United States Constitution ~ Article I, Sec. 6, Para. 1:
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They 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 not be questioned in any other place.

As Ed Morrissey correctly notes:

...members cannot be arrested while in attendance of a session or while traveling to or from said session. They also cannot be prosecuted for their speech while in session. That's it. It's a very narrow immunity, and it has to be in order to preserve public accountability for elected officials.

The subpoena and search were carried out in a proper manner with the FBI obtaining all the judicial oversight. You see, the FBI had to obtain a warrant from a federal judge. They had to show probable cause.

You know - the videotape showing Jefferson taking $100,000 in a bribe, and the fact that the freezer in his personal residence contained $90,000 in cold hard cash.

Hastert and the rest of those politicians spewing claims of privilege and violation of the separation of powers between Congress and the Executive or Judiciary do not want to go down this path. None are above the law.

UPDATE:
Pelosi to Jefferson: Resign from Ways and Means Committee. Jefferson refuses to quit. Go figure. He still thinks he has an out - provided by Hastert and other GOPers who don't quite realize that defending a member of Congress whose office was searched under a duly authorized criminal search warrant does not violate separation of powers, the US constitution or any other law. Jefferson's lawyers are demanding that the FBI return the documents recovered in the search of his Congressional office. That's not going to happen either. Members of Congress are not immune from criminal investigations.

Also, this isn't about the President expanding his powers but about the FBI investigating a crooked politician. And yet, Hastert and other GOPers are trying to defend Jefferson claiming that this is all about defending the Legislative branch from undue intrusions by the Executive (though the Judiciary had no problem issuing the warrants, and doesn't address the fact that Jefferson refused to obey the subpeona either).

Bush didn't put Jefferson up to keeping $90,000 in bribes in his freezer. He was caught with his hand in the frozen cookie jar and if the criminal investigation takes it into the Rayburn HOB, then that is where it leads. This isn't some fishing expedition we're talking about either. It's about obtaining further evidence to bolster what appears to be a strong case against Jefferson.

UPDATE:
Curiouser and curiouser. ABC News, via their blog, ran a report claiming that Rep. Denny Hastert was being investigated as part of a larger FBI probe into corruption in Congress. Now, that would certainly seem to provide a valid explanation for why Hastert and some of the other GOPers would go off the rails and assert a reading of the Constitution that stretches the imagination. Is it possible that they're worried about further criminal investigations might kick over a few more skeletons in the closet?

Possibly. And yet... Hastert denies any such investigation and so does the Department of Justice.

As usual, we've got unnamed sources providing these stories. Folks with multiple axes to grind eh? Scores to settle, or even the possibility that this story was designed to make Brian Ross seem unreliable?