Jefferson wins ruling on raid in Congress

• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Advocate Washington bureau
• Published: Apr 1, 2008 - Page: 10A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. William Jefferson gained another win in the public corruption case against him Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn a ruling that the 2006 FBI raid of his congressional office violated the U.S. Constitution.

The nine-member court decided not to take up an appeal by the Justice Department of a ruling that found the 18-hour search of Jefferson’s office violated the Constitution because it did not allow him to review and exclude legislative material.

Jefferson, a New Orleans Democrat, had argued that the search violated the Constitution’s speech or debate clause, which protects the legislative branch from interference by the executive.

“Wow,” Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University, said of the high court’s decision. “I think future presidents would have to be hesitant before following this disastrous course. The raid was a raw act of arrogance by both the president and the attorney general.”

The Justice Department said the decision will not have an effect on its case.

“We are disappointed the Supreme Court has decided not to review this matter,” spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute the case.”

Robert Trout, Jefferson’s lead attorney, lauded the Supreme Court move.

“From the moment that we learned of the FBI’s raid on a congressional office — the first in our nation’s history — we were convinced that the Department of Justice was out of bounds,” Trout said in a statement. “Now, almost two years later, we are gratified that our initial judgment about this unprecedented raid has finally been confirmed.”

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said the Supreme Court decision not to take the case puts “overbroad restraints” on federal prosecutors and creates “prosecution-free zones.”

“No searches of congressional offices just seems extreme,” said Fitton, whose nonprofit organization describes itself as fighting against public corruption.

Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond Law School, said Monday’s decision will not give Congress carte blanche as it pertains to public corruption cases.

“The Justice Department will have to work with Congress to reach some kind of accommodation,” Tobias said. “I think it will make it a little harder for federal prosecutors to do what they want to do, but they have other tools.”

Federal prosecutors have said all along that not having access to the congressional office material would not undercut their prosecution of Jefferson. Prosecutors have told the federal judge hearing the case that they have eight filing cabinets of evidence, including audio and video tapes.