The Daily Background
| Fight over Jefferson raid continues
by Arlen Parsa
Apparently the fight isn’t over yet, even though Hastert seems to be somewhat placated. NYT:
An F.B.I. raid on a congressman’s office 10 days ago was heavily criticized today during hearings before the House Judiciary Committee, with members and witnesses saying it violated the separation of powers provided by the Constitution between the legislative and executive branches of government.
[…]
The 18-hour raid on the offices of Representative William Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana, took place without either a lawyer for the House of Representatives or Mr. Jefferson permitted to be in attendance. Constitutionally protected legislative material was almost certainly seized in the sweep, according to witnesses, who included law professors, a former member of the House and a former Justice Department official.The procedures used in the raid were “sloppy at best and reckless at worst,” said John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the committee.
The hearings were called for apparently by the (racist Republican) James Sensenbrenner, who doesn’t seem to like the idea of the executive branch snooping around in the legislative branch. Sensenbrenner has of course clashed with the White House recently on the immigration issue and has been quite vocal in his opposition to the Senate plan (he’s the chief ‘negotiator’ for the House).
Sensenbrenner says he’ll call Attorney General Gonzales to testify at hearings about this issue in the future (which will be very interesting to see), and also how the results of future hearings effect his attitude on the immigration issue. Full article.
