When I first heard about the FBI raid on Rep. William J. Jefferson’s office it didn’t occur to me there might be a constitutional issue involved. But now — surprise! — House Speaker Dennis Hastert told President Bush yesterday that he thought the raid was unconstitutional, according to Patrick O’Connor at The Hill. And House Majority Leader Boehner wasn’t happy, either.

Calling the Saturday-night raid an “invasion of the legislative branch,” House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) predicted the case would eventually be resolved in the Supreme Court and hinted that Congress would take further action. The majority leader said Hastert would take the lead on the issue because he is the chief constitutional officer in the House.

“I am sure there will be a lot more said about this,” Boehner said.

The problem is that the FBI raid on Jefferson’s office amounted to a raid by the executive branch on the legislative branch. An editorial in today’s New York Times explains the constitutional issue:

The court-authorized search of the Congressional office of Representative William Jefferson by federal agents was as unprecedented in the 217-year history of Congress as it was alarming to lawmakers of both parties. Critics instantly suggested that Congressman Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat suspected of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, should have been spared the raid under some broad interpretation of the Constitution’s separation of executive and legislative powers.

Fuming lawmakers claim that the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause — which protects a lawmaker from politically motivated criminal harassment in the course of official business — should extend to making Mr. Jefferson’s office inviolable. …

…It’s hard to remember when the issue of separations of powers has arisen under such an explosive combination of political circumstances: an all-night search on a quiet weekend during an election-year session that has already been roiled by separate corruption investigations.

The “speech and debate” clause is in Article I, section 6, first paragraph:

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.

(I believe this is the same clause cited on behalf of Rep. Patrick Kennedy when he crashed his car into a traffic barrier a few days ago. It was argued that Kennedy couldn’t be arrested, and he wasn’t. However, the accident occurred at 3 a.m., and Congress was not in session at the time.)

The Findlaw annotations for this clause are here. And that takes us to the SCOTUS decision in United States v. Johnson, 383 U.S. 169 (1966), in which Justice Harlan wrote,

The language of that Article, of which the present clause is only a slight modification, is in turn almost identical to the English Bill of Rights of 1689: [383 U.S. 169, 178] “That the Freedom of Speech, and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament, ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parliament.” 1 W. & M., Sess. 2, c. 2.

This formulation of 1689 was the culmination of a long struggle for parliamentary supremacy. Behind these simple phrases lies a history of conflict between the Commons and the Tudor and Stuart monarchs during which successive monarchs utilized the criminal and civil law to suppress and intimidate critical legislators. 8 Since the Glorious Revolution in Britain, and throughout United States history, the privilege has been recognized as an important protection of the independence and integrity of the legislature. See, e. g., Story, Commentaries on the Constitution 866; II The Works of James Wilson 37-38 (Andrews ed. 1896). In the American governmental structure the clause serves the additional function of reinforcing the separation of powers so deliberately established by the Founders. As Madison noted in Federalist No. 48:

“It is agreed on all sides, that the powers properly belonging to one of the departments, ought not to be directly and completely administered by either of the other departments. It is equally evident, that neither of them ought to possess directly or indirectly, an overruling influence over the others in the administration of their respective powers. It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it. After discriminating therefore in theory, the several classes of power, as they may in their nature be legislative, [383 U.S. 169, 179] executive, or judiciary; the next and most difficult task, is to provide some practical security for each against the invasion of the others. What this security ought to be, is the great problem to be solved.” (Cooke ed.)

The legislative privilege, protecting against possible prosecution by an unfriendly executive and conviction by a hostile judiciary, is one manifestation of the “practical security” for ensuring the independence of the legislature.

The Times editorial says that invoking the Speech and Debate clause in the Jefferson raid is a stretch, and maybe it is. Yesterday Jeralyn Merritt wrote,

In Rep. Jefferson’s case, however, “separation of powers” just won’t cut it if the affidavit for the search warrant shows probable cause to believe that evidence would be found in his office. The same would apply to the President, the Vice President, their staffs, and the judiciary: If there is probable cause linking the place to be searched with an alleged crime, the search has the imprimatur of the law, is presumptively valid under the Fourth Amendment, and that is all that will be required to defeat a separation of powers claim. His private papers concerning his thoughts and votes are not off limits to a search warrant if the allegation in the affidavit is that the vote was paid for. That is bribery of a Member of Congress, and no Congressman is immune from that. Ask former Rep. Duke Cunningham.

I don’t think anyone is saying that Rep. Jefferson should be immune from the criminal justice system altogether, though. And I do not doubt the FBI had plenty of probable cause. The issue, seems to me, is whether the “speech and debate” clause creates a higher burden than standard probable cause for obtaining a search warrant for a congressman’s office. And if so, did the FBI’s warrant meet that burden? I hope one of our other fine blogosphere legal experts, like Scott Lemieux or Glenn Greenwald, will help us out.

It does seem that the raid on Jefferson’s office after months of leaving, for example, Tom DeLay and Randy Cunningham alone, smacks of political exploitation. First, as the Times editorial says, the Abramoff and Cunningham cases “suggest a pervasive, systemic form of corruption that does not seem to be at play in the Jefferson inquiry.” The FBI says it has a videotape of Jefferson accepting a $100,000 bribe, and that they found $90,000 of that bribe in his freezer. Seems to me they already had plenty of evidence for a prosecution. Could it be that the White House ordered the raid because the Bushies wanted Jefferson’s alleged corruption to get big headlines? Dumb question, huh?

According to CNN,

FBI agents searched Jefferson’s office in the Rayburn House Office Building from Saturday evening to early Sunday afternoon, bureau spokeswoman Debra Weierman said. One government official told CNN the search marked the first time FBI agents have searched a lawmaker’s Capitol Hill office.

Weierman would not comment on what agents removed from Jefferson’s office. But in the papers released Sunday, investigators stated they were searching for faxes, notes, telephone records and other forms of communication, as well as ledgers and computer files related to meetings and travel.

In an earlier statement, [Jefferson’s lawyer Robert] Trout called the search of Jefferson’s office “outrageous” and said it was not necessary.

“There were no exigent circumstances necessitating this action. The government knew that the documents were being appropriately preserved while proper procedures were being followed. We are dismayed by this action — the documents weren’t going anywhere and the prosecutors knew it,” he said.

However, a redacted copy of the search warrant and affidavit stated that federal investigators were unable to obtain the records relevant to the investigation inside Jefferson’s office and, “left with no other method,” proceeded with the search.

I’m no lawyer, but it seems to me that if this goes to the SCOTUS the FBI will have to argue that there was something Jefferson was hiding in his office that they really, really needed for an indictment and prosecution, and that they had exhausted other methods of obtaining this something. Had Rep. Jefferson refused to honor a subpoena, for example? [Update: Jefferson had refused to comply with a subpoena, according to the Associated Press.] I don’t know if the “speech and debate” clause renders a congressman’s office inviolable, but I would think the clause places a burden on the executive branch to show that the raid was not frivolous or politically motivated.

Carl Hulse wrote in yesterday’s New York Times that the raid seems to be part of a pattern:

Lawmakers and outside analysts said that while the execution of a warrant on a Congressional office might be surprising — this appears to be the first time it has happened — it fit the Bush administration’s pattern of asserting broad executive authority, sometimes at the expense of the legislative and judicial branches.

Pursuing a course advocated by Vice President Dick Cheney, the administration has sought to establish primacy on domestic and foreign policy, not infrequently keeping much of Congress out of the loop unless forced to consult.

“It is consistent with a unilateral approach to the use of authority in Washington, D.C.,” Philip J. Cooper, a professor at Portland State University who has studied the administration’s approach to executive power, said of the search.

“This administration,” Dr. Cooper said, “has very systematically and from the beginning acted in a way to interpret its executive powers as broadly as possible and to interpret the power of Congress as narrowly as possible as compared to the executive.”

But Republicans in Congress have been pretty much OK with being stomped on by the executive branch. Why are they fighting back now? Laura Rozen writes:

In a city that has become so hyper, Beria-like politicized, House GOP leaders have overwhelmingly sided with a House Democrat looking at face value pretty vulnerable to corruption charges in protesting the unprecedented FBI weekend raid on Rep. Jefferson’s office as a sign of what lawmakers claim is executive overreach. But the strange thing is, lawmakers would ostensibly have total oversight responsibility for the FBI, through the power of the purse, the power of writing legislation, subpoena power, confirming nominees, etc. If they’re concerned about alleged FBI overreach, they can haul in to testify not just FBI director Mueller, but his boss Alberto Gonzales. So what is really going on here? Perhaps a shot across the bow? Or is it panic?

But I can’t believe Bush’s boy Alberto would allow the FBI to raid Republican offices looking for incriminating evidence. Not when they are so desperate to win elections this November and keep Congress in Republican hands.