WASHINGTON -- An FBI raid on a Louisiana congressman's Capitol Hill office was legal, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said members of Congress are not above the law. He rejected requests from lawmakers and Democratic Rep. William Jefferson to return material seized by the FBI in a May 20-21 search of Jefferson's office.
In a 28-page opinion, Hogan dismissed arguments that the first-ever raid on a congressman's office violated the Constitution's protections against intimidation of elected officials.
Jefferson's theory of legislative privilege "would have the effect of converting every congressional office into a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime," the judge said.
Judge Hogan is absolutely correct.
As I pointed out before, the FBI made many attempts to secure the evidence in question from Rep. Jefferson without resorting to a search warrant. Rep. Jefferson stymied their attempts every time, so the FBI was forced to get a warrant. But the investigators at the FBI took great pains to ensure that the privacy of Jefferson's office and political work product was kept intact, involving objective third parties, judges and multiple reviews of the evidence being obtained.
In short: Rep. Jefferson, nor any of the other Congress critters who bemoaned this search, have anything to complain about. This was a lawful search and seizure of the sort that ordinary Americans endure every single day. There is no reason in the world why members of Congress, under the right circumstances, can't be held accountable to the same laws as their constituents.