CONgressman William "cash in freezer" Jefferson gets partial victory in Appeals Court.

The U. S. Appeals Court in D. C. has ruled partially) in favor of Louisiana CONgressman, William "cash in freezer" Jefferson over the FBI raid of his offices, in connection with his indictment on bribery and for other offenses under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and the evidence doesn't look good for him. The court ruled that the FBI search violated the CONgressman's Speech and Debate clause constitutional protections.

The Court reasoned that the FBI, as a part of the Executive, should have given Mr. Jefferson a chance to review the materials, presumably, to remove privileged material, and because the FBI didn't, the seizure became "compelled disclosure of privileged material to the Executive during execution of the search warrant"

While I agree with the Court's reasoning -- and would have reached the same conclusion as the Court did, but I would have done so based SOLELY on seperation of powers argument --, I fail to see what "speech and debate" Mr. Jefferson could have been engaged in at the time the documents were seized to warrant constitutional protection, ESPECIALLY IN VIEW OF THE FACT THAT THE CONgressman WAS CHARGED WITH FELONIES -- AN EXCEPTION TO THE Speech and Debate Clause!

Editor's note added for the benefit of readers: The Speech and Debate Clause of our Constitution provides: "They [members of Congress] 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 (Emphasis is mine).