The Department of Justice scored an important victory on Thursday, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled in its favor and against former Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), who is being prosecuted in a corruption case.
Renzi was indicted in early 2008 on a variety of federal charges, including accusations that he pushed a land-swap bill to help a business associate pay a $700,000 debt that he owed Renzi, as John Bresnahan recounted on Politico.
“During the investigation, FBI agents taped Renzi’s phone calls, including those he made with an attorney, as well as other members of Congress not caught up in the probe, which angered leaders in both parties,” Bresnahan wrote.
So Renzi cited the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution, seeking to have the charges thrown out on grounds that he can’t be charged with a crime for anything linked to a legislative act. A lower court rejected his position, so he appealed to the 9th Circuit.
“We cannot agree” with Renzi’s position, Judge Richard C. Tallman wrote for a three-judge panel. To be sure, the panel noted, the Speech or Debate Clause is a powerful and necessary privilege. “But the Supreme Court has made equally clear that the Speech or Debate Clause does not ‘make Members of Congress supercitizens immune from criminal responsibility,’” the panel held.
Politico said some legal experts have speculated that the Renzi case could go to the Supreme Court.
