Given the partisan circumstances, you’d think congressional [tag]Republicans[\/tag] would be thrilled that the [tag]FBI[\/tag] [tag]raid[\/tag]ed Rep. [tag]William Jefferson[\/tag]’s (D-La.) House office as part of a serious corruption investigation. As it turns out, just the opposite is true. It’s not the federal investigation GOP lawmakers mind — it’s the trespassing<\/a>.<\/p>\n After years of quietly acceding to the [tag]Bush[\/tag] [tag]administration[\/tag]’s assertions of executive power, the Republican-led [tag]Congress[\/tag] hit a limit this weekend.<\/p>\n Resentment boiled among senior Republicans for a second day on Tuesday after a team of warrant-bearing agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation turned up at a closed House office building on Saturday evening, demanded entry to the office of a lawmaker and spent the night going through his files.<\/p>\n The episode prompted cries of constitutional foul from Republicans — even though the lawmaker in question, Representative William J. Jefferson of Louisiana, is a [tag]Democrat[\/tag] whose involvement in a bribery case has made him an obvious partisan political target.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is no minor disagreement. House Speaker [tag]Dennis Hastert[\/tag]<\/a> reportedly yelled at the White House yesterday and said in a statement, “The actions of the Justice Department in seeking and executing this warrant raise important Constitutional issues that go well beyond the specifics of this case.” [tag]Bill Frist[\/tag]<\/a> said he is “very concerned” about the incident and would ask the Senate counsel to review it. Former House speaker [tag]Newt Gingrich[\/tag]<\/a> suggested the raid was “on the edge of a constitutional confrontation,” adding that the incident was “the most blatant violation of the Constitutional [tag]Separation of Powers[\/tag] in my lifetime.”<\/p>\n [tag]John Boehner[\/tag]<\/a> is talking about taking the issue to the Supreme Court and told one reporter<\/a>, “When I raise my right hand and swear to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, I mean it. They [at the Justice Department] take the same oath, so somebody better start reading the Constitution down there.”<\/p>\n In other words, after nearly six years of constitutional abuses, now<\/i> congressional Republicans are worried about Bush administration [tag]overreach[\/tag]. Welcome to the party, guys. After six years of signing statements, domestic surveillance, habeus corpus violations, torture of prisoners, and secret overseas prisons — all done with no oversight from Congress — what finally woke them up was a raid on a congressman’s office. That can’t be tolerated. Not for one second.<\/p>\n Well, maybe not. But at least the FBI got a search [tag]warrant[\/tag] signed by a judge. Congress should feel lucky they were treated with such sensitivity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There is also, of course, the question of partisanship. Duke Cunningham was caught, dead to rights, in a massive corruption scandal, but the FBI never felt compelled to raid his congressional office. The FBI is still investigating<\/a> other Republicans of the House Appropriations Committee for alleged corruption, but officials haven’t come with subpoenas for an over-night document-collecting get-together. But when it came to Jefferson, 15 FBI agents<\/a> raided his office.<\/p>\n
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\nAs Kevin noted<\/a>, it’s interesting timing.<\/p>\n