Judge’s Help Requested in Jefferson File Dispute

A congressional advisory panel has asked a federal judge to return to Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) the files that the FBI seized from his office in a nighttime raid on Capitol Hill.

The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, in a 43-page motion, said that the FBI’s search of Jefferson’s office and its seizure of files and computer disks was not only illegal and unconstitutional, but a “grave threat to the separation of powers principle that is the very foundation of our governmental structure.”

The FBI has said that it searched Jefferson’s office, his Washington home and other venues as part of a corruption investigation. Jefferson has said he is innocent.

The search of Jefferson’s congressional office was authorized by the Justice Department but fiercely opposed by congressional Republicans and Democrats as an infringement of one branch of government on another.

Five days after the search, President Bush stepped in and ordered the attorney general’s office to seal the seized materials for 45 days so that the dispute between the House and prosecutors could be resolved.

The filing by the congressional panel, in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was in support of Jefferson’s motion to have the seized files returned to him.

Though the advisory body took pains to say it was not trying to protect the Louisiana Democrat from the ongoing investigation, it asked that the court declare unconstitutional both the search warrant and its execution on May 20.

The search was the first time in the history of Congress that such a warrant had been executed on a House member’s Washington office, the advisory body noted.

Also Wednesday, the House Democratic panel that assigns committee seats met to consider taking the first steps toward removing Jefferson from the powerful Ways and Means Committee. It announced no decision.