The Speech or Debate Clause: The Investigation of Representative William Jefferson and Its Aftermath

In May 2006, the Department of Justice executed a judicially-certified search warrant of Representative William Jefferson's congressional office. This marked the first time in American history that a Member's Capitol Hill office had been searched by the executive. Congress immediately condemned the Administration for violating Article I, Section 6, Clause I of the U. S. Constitution: The Speech or Debate Clause. This thesis will discuss the notion of checks and balances, the separation of powers doctrine, the events of the Jefferson investigation, and previous legal precedent for this case. Further, it will also examine the opinions of other scholars in publications and law review journals from across the country, and investigate the Rayburn court's recommendation for the implementation of a standard operating procedure for future cases. However, there is no public record that demonstrates that a memorandum of understanding for a standard operating procedure was ever established. This is not an analysis to support or criticize the D.C. District Court of Appeals decision in Rayburn. Rather, this analysis will critique possible procedures already proposed for future cases, look at why a set of standard operating procedures was never created, and offer the proposition that one likely never will be created, because it would force each branch to forfeit some of its constitutional authority and privileges, thus undermining the separation of powers doctrine.

Author

• Poland II, James Stephen

Language

• en

Date created

• 2011

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Graduate School of Political Management

Degree

• M.P.S.

Advisor

• Billet, Steven E.

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/v692t637h