MSNBC: Jusice Dept concedes to give Jefferson copies

[diamondsndust]

off all the papers taken from his office. This will allow Jefferson's lawyers to look over and make a list of what they feel is covered by the laws and compare lists with the Justice Department. Any discrepancies between the two lists can then be argued in court.

[The Deacon]

1. Damn!

Does that mean Gonzales and Mueller won't be resigning?

[dogday]

2. I am with you, I want them to resign

boo-hoo :cry:

[diamondsndust]

4. I hoped they would resign.. but keep in mind...

Jefferson is only getting copies of what they took. How can we believe this Government would give him everything they took?

[rodeodance]

3. but they took his hard-drive. The congressman has to 'trust' that they

will make copies of all? umm....

[Sgent]

5. They went to far

Republic congressmen were talking about impeaching Gonzoles. Senator Lott (head of the Senate Rules Committee) is ready to take this to the Supreme Ct.

Giving them copies (which they are requried to do anyway) is hardly sufficient.

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. Even if Jefferson was guilty it's way too late to have a fair trial

They have fucked this thing up worse than the Iraq war. They may as well shit can the whole investigation now & save everybody the trouble.

[screembloodymurder]

7. What they're doing.

Here's the formula: create a scandal, use the MSM to discredit the opposition, steal another election. Look what they did in Canada. I talked to people in Montreal last week and they claim the US media is now brainwashing the Canadians.

[bananas]

9. "the US media is now brainwashing the Canadians"

That's not good at all.

[Igel]

8. This is reasonable.

One of the few reasonable things.

The Constitution does not protect felonies. The judge probably wouldn't have authorized the initial subpoena, or the warrant (or the cumbersome search process, with three different teams) if s/he felt it was unconstitutional. The proper response to the subpoena would have been to argue it in court; perhaps they did, and nobody's reporting it.

IMHO, Congress' beef is with a judge for granting the subpoena, and then the warrant when the subpoena wasn't honored.

If the Congress is so secure in its belief that the search was unconstitutional, and the appeals court agrees, the evidence will be thrown out, either at the appelate level, or when it gets to SCOTUS.

I hope they make the list public. Public's right to know, and all that.

[lindisfarne]

10. It's not "reasonable", it's required. DOJ isn't doing any favors.

I agree with the poster who suggested that *Co (including, in my opinion, the Republicans in Congress who are "outraged") is using this to manipulate the American public and public opinion.

[Igel]

11. Yes, but the process, while required, is reasonable.

Unlike other suggestions, which is to make everything in the Congressional offices off limits--including, presumably, decomposing corpses--or saying there's open season on any papers.

In fact, the process to get to this stage is presumably unreasonable: had the initial subpoena been accepted, Jefferson would have handed over what they asked for. I'd have to assume that the subpoena could have been argued, and they lost: the options were contempt of court or a warrant. Jefferson's beef is with the courts; Hastert's is with Congressional power.