WASHINGTON - The Justice Department trampled on congressional independence when raiding U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's office last year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday, siding with Congress in a constitutional showdown.
In a rare textbook case involving all three branches of government, the court held that investigators violated the Constitution by reviewing legislative documents as part of a corruption investigation.
The court ordered the Justice Department to return any legislative documents it seized from the Louisiana Democrat's office on Capitol Hill. Still undecided is whether prosecutors can use other records it confiscated as part of their bribery case against Jefferson.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070803/ap_on_go_ot/raid_on_congress
