Congress and the FBI

One of favorite things to hear when I was a staffer on Capitol Hill was "would the gentlemen/gentlewoman yield?" coming from Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). The man is brilliant and whenever a Republican took him up on this request, they came away looking like a fool. His speeches often left me in stitches but also drove home important points at the same time.

The Talking Points Memo blog has posted a speech that Rep. Frank made on the floor regarding the FBI raid of a fellow Democrat's DC office. It is not one of his funny speeches but it is right on the mark. I wonder why we didn't hear something similar from Rep. Mark Green when his colleagues were being investigated. Oh that's right, he was too busy changing the rules to make sure the indicted Republicans could keep their leadership posts.

Rep. Frank's speech:

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I disagree with the bipartisan House leadership criticism of the FBI's search of a Member's office. I know nothing specifically about the case, except that the uncontroverted public evidence did seem to justify the issuance of a warrant.

What we now have is a Congressional leadership, the Republican part of which has said it is okay for law enforcement to engage in warrantless searches of the average citizen, now objecting when a search, pursuant to a validly issued warrant, is conducted of a Member of Congress.

I understand that the speech and debate clause is in the Constitution. It is there because Queen Elizabeth I and King James I were disrespectful of Parliament. It ought to be, in my judgment, construed narrowly. It should not be in any way interpreted as meaning that we as Members of Congress have legal protections superior to those of the average citizen.

So I think it was a grave error to have criticized the FBI. I think what they did, they ought to be able to do in every case where they can get a warrant from a judge. I think, in particular, for the leadership of this House, which has stood idly by while this administration has ignored the rights of citizens, to then say we have special rights as Members of Congress is wholly inappropriate.