In United States v. Renzi, handed down yesterday, the Ninth Circuit definitively rejected the Speech or Debate arguments advanced by the former congressman. I will have more to say about this decision in coming days (for previous posts on the Renzi matter, see here, here and here). For now I would just observe that the [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Justice Department Investigations category.
Does BLAG Believe that Members of Congress are Immune from Federal Wiretaps?
In a little-noticed amicus brief filed in June with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) of the House of Representatives argued that the Justice Department’s wiretap of former Representative Rick Renzi was unconstitutional. BLAG contends: “The Wiretap Order clearly permitted the executive branch to seize communications [...]
Washington Post Seeking Access to Jurors in William Jefferson Case
The Washington Post reporter has asked Judge Ellis to provide him a list of jurors who served on the William Jefferson case so that he can attempt to contact them for interviews. According to this letter, the reporter has obtained such information in the past on “high profile cases” from the clerk’s office. [...]
CREW to Me- Don’t Confuse Us with the Facts
The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) put out this news release regarding a grand jury subpoena received by Representative Visclosky. Entitled “WITH VISCLOSKY’S SUBPOENA, CREW ASKS — WILL HOUSE COUNSEL ONCE AGAIN STYMIE A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION INTO A MEMBER OF CONGRESS?,” the essence of CREW’s point seems to be that [...]
Hill Report on the Renzi Case
The Hill reports that the judge (presumably referring to Magistrate Velasco) in the Renzi case has scheduled a special hearing to determine whether prosecutors improperly listened to privileged attorney-client communications captured during the wiretap of Renzi’s cell phone. As the article notes, this is a separate matter from the Speech or Debate issues regarding [...]
Federal Prosecutors Push Boundaries of Illegal Gratuities Statute
Justice Scalia’s opinion for a unanimous Court in U.S. v. Sun-Diamond Growers, 526 U.S. 398 (1999), begins dryly with the observation: “Talmudic sages believed that judges who accepted bribes would be punished by eventually losing all knowledge of the divine law. The Federal Government, dealing with many public officials who are not judges, and [...]