Defense counsel, Robert P. Trout and Amy Berman Jackson of Trout Chacheris PLLC, provide a compelling argument for sealing the product of the search, which the President did for them before the court could act.

The irony here is so thick you can cut it with a knife. DoJ is falling all over itself to give Jefferson every benefit of the doubt about how the search occurred with a "Filter Team" of uninvolved FBI agents to determine what is seizable and what is not. The average citizen would have had everything packed up and carried off for later analysis. The search warrant affidavit recognizes likely assertion of a speech and debate privilege under U.S. Const., Art. I, cl. 6, and the FBI did its best to minimize the intrusion.

Among the redacted material are references to what else was done in an effort to get the records short of a search warrant that failed. The defense, however, raises the question that the government failed to utilize "less intrusive measures" than a search, something the Supreme Court has yet to recognize, but the nature of this case may change that. If so, good.

Shortly after 4 p.m EDT, the N.Y. Times posted, for tomorrow's paper: Constitutional Squabble May Have Earlier Roots.

Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is moving publicly to put his constitutional showdown with the Justice Department in the past, but many on Capitol Hill believe that the bitter confrontation will resonate in the coming months.

Lawmakers and senior officials say Mr. Hastert's determined challenge to the Justice Department's court-authorized search of a Congressional office arose as much from frustration at missteps and slights by high-level administration officials as it did from outrage over what he saw as a gross violation of Congressional turf.

. . . .

The F.B.I. demand for access to the Rayburn House Office Building suite of Representative William J. Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat under investigation in a corruption case, was seen as the last straw by Republican leaders worried about holding their majority in the House in the November elections, particularly with President Bush's flagging popularity.

"We are five months away from an election, and we can't afford to make high-profile mistakes," said one senior Republican official who was granted anonymity because he did not want to be identified discussing sensitive party strains. "There is a sense of tension in the air."

Further down in the same article:

Congressional Republicans say their anger, exacerbated by their midterm political perils, is not aimed directly at Mr. Bush. They believe that Mr. Bush and his immediate circle have improved their efforts to consult with Congress, reversing a previously dismissive attitude as evidenced by two recent appearances by Karl Rove, the White House political strategist, at meetings of House Republicans.


And they say Mr. Bush, who heard complaints from Mr. Hastert about the search and Mr. Goss's dismissal, showed that he was sympathetic to the House stance by ordering the seized materials to be sealed for 45 days. The problem, one official said, is with cabinet secretaries like Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales who, from the House perspective, do not seem to consider Congress an equal partner in governance.

And, it was "rumored," per CNN (and already noted here on Talkleft), that AG Gonzalez threatened like a petulent child to resign if the White House caved in to Congressional pressure on the Jefferson probe. So, the White House ordered the records sealed for 45 days.

Of course the President and AG Gonzalez do not consider Congress an equal partner in government. Not that Congress has proved otherwise, because it is the President's lapdog, not his watchdog. "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." George W. Bush, December 18, 2002 (CNN transcript and video).

Politics never ceases to amaze me. The Republicans in Congress are turning on the President? Sounds more like rats leaving a sinking ship.

Here, the rats knew the ship was sinking but they needed an excuse to disembark (so as to not have it appear "Abandon Ship!"), as if saving their careers wasn't incentive enough. Then, the unprecedented search of a Congressman's office occurs, and their have a handy excuse to wield.

So Congress says: "The Executive Branch is out of control!" Well, duh.