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terpfan1980
terpfan1980
Join Date 08/2004
+13

Nice to see the Courts get at least one right

Congress not above the law in FBI raid

July 11, 2006 12:53:15 PM from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
News source on this one (among other sites) here: Judge rules FBI raid on Hill office legal (from Washington Times).

A small excerpt:
A federal judge in Washington yesterday said the FBI's search of Rep. William J. Jefferson's Capitol Hill offices in a bribery investigation -- which ignited a firestorm of protest in Congress -- was legal and denied efforts by defense attorneys to have the seized documents returned.
U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas Hogan, in a 28-page opinion, described the "facts and questions of law presented" by the May 20 weekend raid on the Louisiana Democrat's office as "indeed unprecedented," but said it was "well-established" that a member of Congress was as bound to criminal laws "as are ordinary persons."


It is so nice to see that at least one Judge (give yourself a big pat on the back Judge Hogan!) has it right and has made it clear to the criminals, I mean Congress people, that they are not above the law and must be held accountable to the same standards that the rest of the U.S. citizenry does.

Sadly there are still far too many times when Congress specifically excludes itself and its members from laws they pass and that is something I would love to see abolished completely as a practice. If they pass laws that affect the rest of the country, then they should live by those same laws. Perhaps if more of them did, or at least if more of their staffers did, we'd see laws that were much more friendly to the consumers and regular people in this country as opposed to laws that bow to special interests and carve out exceptions to big businesses and the like that are funnelling huge amounts of campaign contributions to the coffers of these creeps.
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terpfan1980
terpfan1980
Join Date 08/2004
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Reply #1 July 11, 2006 12:54:20 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
BTW, this court decision still doesn't do anything to fix problems like Cynthia "it was because I'm black and female!" McKinney or others that still behave as if laws don't mean anything to them.
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terpfan1980
bakerstreet
Join Date 03/2001
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Reply #2 July 11, 2006 1:02:39 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
It was a facetious argument if you ask me. If the "executive" branch can't investigate Congressmen, then there's really no one else with the constitutional authority. Granted, they could form their little daisy chain subcommittees and smooth it all over for each other, but saying the justice department can't touch congressmen in their offices is giving them an get-out-of-jail free card. The last thing we need is some kind of fekked up diplomatic immunity for our OWN congressmen...
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terpfan1980
MasonM
Join Date 01/2004
+45
Reply #3 July 11, 2006 1:27:07 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Hell, I think those people should be thoroughly investigated on a daily basis. Good job on the judge's part.
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terpfan1980
Dr Guy
Join Date 09/2004
+129
Reply #4 July 11, 2006 1:52:26 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Will it stand the test of SCOTUS?  With the way Kennedy is going, it might not.  His Rulings are becoming a joke.
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terpfan1980
terpfan1980
Join Date 08/2004
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Reply #5 July 11, 2006 2:53:48 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
His Rulings are becoming a joke.


You have your tense mixed up here. His rulings have long since been a joke.

It's sad, but that's a topic for another time. Actually a similar tangent would be to poke a little fun of the liberal elite/idiots that had taken pot shots at Clarence Thomas' rulings and opinions. I'm too lazy to look up who to credit/blame with that stance, but I remember during the last round of nominations for the SCOTUS that there were comments slamming Thomas' opinions as being not up to snuff.

It would behove those on the left to look at the rulings that have favored their positions under the same microscope. If they did, they might realize what a joke their favored Judges are.
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terpfan1980
Dr Guy
Join Date 09/2004
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Reply #6 July 11, 2006 2:59:01 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

I'm too lazy to look up who to credit/blame with that stance, but I remember during the last round of nominations for the SCOTUS that there were comments slamming Thomas' opinions as being not up to snuff.

One was Harry Reid - who then made a statement to the effect "Hey!  I am not an English scholar" when basically it was pointed out that his statements made less sense than Clarence Thomas' Opinions.

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