'Speech or debate' clause invoked in investigations of House members

By Jerry Markon and R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, January 17, 2011

A constitutional clash over whether House members are immune from many forms of Justice Department scrutiny has helped derail or slow several recent corruption investigations of lawmakers, according to court documents and sources.

At issue is a provision in the Constitution known as the "speech or debate" clause, which shields legislative work from executive branch interference. House members have increasingly asserted the privilege in corruption probes, often citing a 2007 court ruling that said FBI agents violated the Constitution when they searched the office of then-Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.).

The Justice Department warned at the time that the court decision would "seriously and perhaps even fatally" undermine congressional corruption probes by limiting the FBI's ability to search for evidence and use wiretaps.

Since then, speech or debate challenges have killed an investigation of former representative Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), hampered probes of Rep. Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.) and former representative John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.), and slowed a pending corruption case against former representative Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), sources familiar with those inquiries said.

(More here.)