Comments on: FBI Raid on Jefferson’s Office Unconstitutional

By: Grewgills

Grewgills — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 01:59:25 +0000

Bit,
According to you Reagan and Bush are the Center and Clinton is the left? Where is the right in your universe?

Bush 41 and Clinton were center right and center left respectively. Clinton was certainly not ideologically or by policy further from the center than was Bush 41. If Bush 41 was further to the right than Clinton was to the left it was not by much. Reagan's policies were further from the center than either of their's, but had the charisma and discipline to push them through.

By: Bithead

Bithead — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 18:38:16 +0000

Sorry, Rogers issued the ruling, not Ginsburg. Still it's 2 Republican appointees and one Democrat.

Two centerists and a leftist.
What passes for balance, today.

By: PatHMV

PatHMV — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:02:04 +0000

As I discuss here, I think the concurring opinion is much better than (and dramatically at odds with) the majority opinion. The majority blithely tosses off a couple of hypothetical processes that the FBI could follow to search a Congressman's office, but they all either implicitly assume an honest Congressman working in good faith to assert only warranted privileges, or would ultimately force the FBI to blindly seize all computers and file cabinets and bring them to the judge to review for privilege. The majority opinion would be utterly impractical to follow in real life, where a crooked Congressman could very easily stash the smoking gun letter showing his guilt in an envelope marked "memos debating legislation with other congressmen."

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:18:24 +0000

Indeed. I haven't seen much specific about the warrant, but if this was so blatantly unconctitutional, you'd think that would have come up when the warrant was being signed by a judge...

From skimming the ruling, it seemed that the warrant was issued to seize unprivileged information, while the FBI took privileged information as well. Only the privileged information is having to be returned.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:15:06 +0000

Ginsburg issued the ruling.

Sorry, Rogers issued the ruling, not Ginsburg. Still it's 2 Republican appointees and one Democrat.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:13:47 +0000

Lemme guess... the judge who issued the rling was an Clinton Appointee.

The Judges were:

Chief Judge:
Ginsburg (1986 - Reagan)

Circuit Judges:
Henderson (1990 - Bush Senior)
Rogers (1994 - Clinton)

Ginsburg issued the ruling.

By: markm

markm — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:46:10 +0000

...well get that man a commitee chairman job!!!...c'mon Nancy, what's the holdup?.

By: Bithead

Bithead — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:34:53 +0000

Lemme guess... the judge who issued the rling was an Clinton Appointee.

By: legion

legion — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:16:14 +0000

A bizarre ruling, given that the raid was executed pursuant to a warrant under an ongoing criminal investigation.

Indeed. I haven't seen much specific about the warrant, but if this was so blatantly unconctitutional, you'd think that would have come up when the warrant was being signed by a judge...