New memo on House office search

The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress has just released a new analysis of legal and constitutional issues raised by the FBI’s search of the legislative office of Rep. William Jefferson, Louisiana Democrat, during a bribery investigation — a search now under challenge in U.S. District Court and potentially headed toward appellate review.

The document, by CRS American law specialist Morton Rosenberg, concludes that history and precedent suggest that the leaders of the House should be the first to determine how to respond to a subpoena aimed at a member of the House. If the process now set up by the Justice Department for reviewing the materials taken from Jefferson’s office — a filtering by Department employees not involved in the investigation — is found in court to be valid, Rosenberg suggests that Congress may want to respond by passing legislation to restore protection of the House’s institutional interests.

The full text of the memo can be found here

The leadership of the House, in a filing in U.S. District Court a week ago (see this post), urged U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan to rule that the search of Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office was unconstitutional. It also urged the judge to fashion a remedy that would take into account current negotiations with the Justice Department over a new protocol on search warrants for congressional offices.

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