Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The constitutional showdown that followed the FBI's search of a congressman's office came down to this: The House threatened budgetary retaliation against the Justice Department. Justice officials raised the prospect of resigning. That scenario, as described Saturday by a senior administration official, set the stage for President Bush's intervention into the fight over the FBI's search of the office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., an eight-term lawmaker being investigated on bribery allegations. During contentious conversations between the Department of Justice and the House, top law enforcement officials indicated that they'd rather quit than return documents FBI agents, armed...

The Hagel-Martinez Guest Worker Amnesty Plan: Round 2! The Senate returned from recess this week with plans to take up immigration reform again during the month of May. Both Senator Frist and Senator Reid have publicly announced they plan to have an immigration reform package voted out of the chamber by Memorial Day recess and FAIR has learned that the Hagel-Martinez “compromise” is still the vehicle of choice. During the floor debate three weeks ago, Senators tried to market the Hagel-Martinez “compromise” as some moderate version of the massive McCain-Kennedy guest worker amnesty. The American public was not fooled then,...