U.S. House Says Staff Absolutely Immune in Answer to SEC

[IDemo]

Source: Business Week

The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and a top staff member say the panel and its employees are “absolutely immune” from having to comply with subpoenas from a federal regulator in an insider-trading probe.

The committee today responded to U.S. District Court Judge Paul Gardephe’s order to explain why it hadn’t complied with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s requests for documents, phone records and testimony of aide Brian Sutter for more than a year. Gardephe gave the House until today to answer.

Kerry W. Kircher, the top lawyer for the House, said the SEC’s request should be dismissed because the information it seeks concerns legislative activities protected by the Constitution, which can’t be reviewed by federal judges. If Gardephe won’t dismiss the SEC’s case, it should be transferred to federal court in Washington, Kircher said.

“What the SEC has done is embark on a remarkable fishing expedition for congressional records -- core legislative records,” Kircher said in a court filing. “The SEC invites the federal judiciary to enforce those administrative subpoenas as against the Legislative Brach of the federal government. This court should decline that invitation.”

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-07-04/house-says-staff-absolutely-immune-in-answer-to-sec

[Scuba]

1. To paraphrase Nixon: "When House staffers do it, that means it's not illegal."

[IDemo]

2. Or, when anyone inside the Beltway or on Wall Street does it. n/t

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

17. But if you or I did it...

[Octafish]

24. They lock us up.

And throw away the key.

[elleng]

3. Betting, having done no research, 'staff' loses,

MEMBERS, maybe not.

The Speech or Debate Clause is a clause in the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 6, Clause 1). The clause states that members of both Houses of Congress

...shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their attendance at the Session of their Respective Houses, and in going to and from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

wiki

[Fred Sanders]

10. A felony would seem to include a lot of stuff, I would say, for members also.

[dballance]

16. Yep, talk to Martha Stewart. She can tell you about insider trading felonies /nt

[The Magistrate]

4. I Think Mr. Kircher Is Pushing It, Sir

What is being investigated has noting to do with the legislative process or debate.

The courts should continue to rule in favor of the S.E.C., though Heaven knows what the wretches dominating the High Court will do....

[Rod Beauvex]

5. Gotta watch them fishing expeditions.

I believe one of them tripped up Bill Clinton.

[rickyhall]

15. But others got Spiro Agnew & Richard Nixon

[alfredo]

20. But he slipped the hook and the Republicans got reeled in by voters.

[Historic NY]

6. They're employees on a taxpayer pay check...

they are not immune. We should strongly insist!!!!!!!!!!

[wilt the stilt]

7. this is insider trading

and the staffer will lose.

[silvershadow]

8. They may or may not be immune, but the optics are sure appalling. nt

[Fred Sanders]

9. There is no such thing as absolute immunity in law, even the President, even a Congressman.

[Iliyah]

11. Only immune for GOP staff

[winter is coming]

12. Why do I get the feeling that if a Democrat tried this we'd get 24/7 screeching

from the GOP that "no one is above the law"?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

13. Hence Boner suing Obama

Yes I know Obama hasn't done anything wrong but the hypocrisy is amazing.

[24601]

23. We do have a precedent. And when the FBI cearched Representative William Jefferson's Congressional

office, as the Washington Post Reported on August 4th, 2007.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080300696.html

"A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that FBI agents violated the Constitution during their search of Rep. William J. Jefferson's Capitol Hill office last year, and ordered the agency to return all privileged materials."

"In a 3 to 0 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit did not block future FBI searches of congressional offices. But it ruled that FBI agents went too far during the May 2006 search when they viewed paper documents before giving the Louisiana Democrat an opportunity to say whether the material was connected to legislative activity and thus protected under the Constitution's "speech or debate" clause."

"But a bipartisan uproar on Capitol Hill over the constitutionality of the raid -- the first by the FBI on a congressional office -- prompted President Bush to seal the seized materials so all parties could reach an accord."

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a news conference that the ruling "restates the central role of the separation of powers, and separation of checks and balances in our system. Having said that, I look forward to working with the Justice Department on an appropriate protocol for access to members' offices when that is necessary."

So the answer is that the reaction to the search was bipartisan.

It's not for the Executive or Judicial Branches to search anything before Congress first screens out anything that would be covered by the search & debate clause.

"In Gravel v. United States, 408 U.S. 606 (1972), the Supreme Court held (5-4) that the privileges of the Speech or Debate Clause extend to Congressional aides. Rejecting the reasoning of the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court held, "...the privilege available to the aide is confined to those services that would be immune legislative conduct if performed by the Senator himself,..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_or_Debate_Clause

[Uncle Joe]

14. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, IDemo.

[McCamy Taylor]

18. They are supposed to hold a House committee hearing and give themselves immunity for testifying.

That is how Congress usually handles these things. It must be some pretty nasty dirt if they do not want it made public.

[alfredo]

21. If so, the SEC should make public all evidence. Let us become the judge and jury.

[blkmusclmachine]

19. ,

,

[Octafish]

22. A miracle: A poor politician arrives in Washington a pauper and leaves a millionaire.

Last edited Sun Jul 6, 2014, 12:28 PM - Edit history (1)

The wonder comes in when adding up the salary, even with the franking thrown in, should never be enough to make one rich. Yet, it does.

Thank heavens for the American Dream. And a good staff.