From today’s order list: 17-1368 SCARNETI, JOSEPH B. V. AGRE, LOUIS, ET AL. The appeal is dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Here were the questions presented in the jurisdictional statement: 1. Did the lower court err in holding that the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Speech or Debate Clause
Putting aside whether perjury could be proven against AG Sessions, there’s another possible hurdle: the Speech or Debate Clause, which gives members of Congress immunity from criminal prosecution for certain legislative acts, for example a speech on the Senate floor. … Continue reading
Josh Gerstein for Politico: Sen. Bob Menendez is asking the Supreme Court to consider his argument that federal bribery charges he is facing impermissibly intrude into a legislative activity protected by the Constitution’s speech-or-debate clause. In a petition submitted to … Continue reading
Nest stop SCOTUS? … Continue reading
AP reports. … Continue reading
Howard with the stories and the brief. … Continue reading
AP: Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey may appeal his indictment on corruption charges, based partly on his argument that some of the charges stem from routine legislative work protected by the Constitution. The United States Court of Appeals for … Continue reading
NJ.com: Lawyers for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez argued in U.S. District Court in Newark that his actions on behalf of Dr. Salomon Melgen concerned legitimate policy questions and were not favors for a friend and campaign donor. In filings submitted late … Continue reading
Point of Order explains. … Continue reading
This should be interesting. Even if these claims ultimately fail (which they likely will), it will likely buy the Senator some significant time before potential incarceration. … Continue reading
Interesting read: The doctrinal fine points are open to be debate, but it is hard to escape the impression that Court believes readily in the failures of the democratic process and the part played in this breakdown by self-interested legislators. … Continue reading
interesting. … Continue reading
John Elwood: The other two rescheduled cases involve the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution. The first petitioner is former Representative Richard Renzi, who was charged with extorting private investors to buy land owned by his friend and business … Continue reading
Roll Call on how far the Speech or Debate privilege extends … Continue reading
The opinion, again rejecting a defense under the Speech or Debate Clause, is here. Rick’s earlier coverage is here. … Continue reading
Very interesting post at Point of Order. … Continue reading
Legal Times: A bipartisan group of congressional leaders filed court papers Tuesday defending the constitutional shield that protects members of Congress and their staff from being forced to provide information about legislative activities. The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the … Continue reading
Christopher Asta has posted this draft on SSRN (NYU Law Review). Here is the abstract: The Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution protects legislators from being “questioned” at trial about their legislative acts. This protection shields legislators from … Continue reading
Roll Call reports. So I’ll now be updating a few things in the Legislation chapters of my work in progress, Legislation, Statutory Interpretation, and Election Law: Examples and Explanations. (From alleged to convicted…) … Continue reading
Interesting discussion at Point of Order. … Continue reading
Interesting Speech or Debate Clause issue in the Renzi trial. … Continue reading
Yesterday, the federal court handling most of the mammoth Texas redistricting litigation denied a motion by members of Congress to prevent disclosure of their conversations to the Texas legislators conducting redistricting. Michael Li, who’s been following all of the back … Continue reading
Legal Times has this post on the one-page order declining to rehear the Speech or Debate Clause case en banc. No dissents, although some predict a cert grant. You can find Rick’s post on the panel opinion here. … Continue reading
Before we get to a cert. grant in the case against former Rep. Richard Renzi, there’s the matter of potential en banc proceedings. The bipartisan legal advisory group of the House of Representatives (which reflects the House’s official institutional position … Continue reading
Here. I’m inclined to agree. UPDATE: Mike Stern too. … Continue reading
I have posted the opinion in United States v. Renzi at this link. There is also an unpublished portion of the opinion (which I have not seen), reinstating the racketeering act dismissed by the district court. Here is the introduction: … Continue reading