Doolittle to fight subpoenas

Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) will fight a Justice Department subpoena covering 11 years of records stemming from the Jack Abramoff investigation and ties between the jailed lobbyist and the lawmaker and his wife.

The action mirrors a constitutional battle raging between Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) and the Department of Justice over the FBI’s raid of his congressional office last year. The DoJ is challenging a recent federal appeals court decision that deemed parts of the search unconstitutional and rendered documents related to the office’s legislative activity unavailable for use in the case.

{mosads}A grand jury convened by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia subpoenaed documents from Doolittle and five aides, the lawmaker and the staffers disclosed Thursday.

The subpoenas encompass “virtually every record including legislative records” for the past 11 years, Doolittle’s attorney David Barger said in a statement released to the Associated Press, adding, “These efforts raise serious constitutional issues going to the very core of our separation of powers created by the Founding Fathers.”
 
The Speech and Debate clause of the Constitution bars members of Congress from being investigated for work related to legislative activity. The House general counsel filed a motion in a California court this week to quash subpoenas for 12 House members related to the bribery case involving former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.), who is serving time in jail, and businessman Brent Wilkes, who is facing trial next week for his alleged role in the scheme.

Barger said he and Doolittle would be “vigilant” in their fight to ensure that Congress’s independence is “vigorously protected.”

 “The rest of Congress would be well served to pay attention to the message the executive branch seems to be sending about whether the three branches are truly co-equal,” Barger continued.

Two Doolittle staffers testified before a federal grand jury earlier this month.