By Bruce Alpert, New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 15, 2008

15 Jun 2008 // Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington recently submitted a brief to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., that urges the court to reject an appeal by Rep. William Jefferson's attorneys asking it to throw out most of the federal corruption charges pending against the congressman. Jefferson's attorneys, who filed a second brief with the court last week, argue that the Virginia grand jury that indicted the New Orleans Democrat on bribery and other charges heard testimony about his legislative activities in violation of the Constitution's speech or debate clause, which protects the legislative branch from interference from the executive branch. CREW, a Washington advocacy group, said that argument, if accepted by the court, would make it virtually impossible to hold members of Congress accountable. "Members of Congress will not be -- as the framers intended -- merely free from intimidation by the executive and a hostile judiciary, they will be unaccountable for criminal behavior that would result in the conviction and incarceration of others, including members of the judicial and executive branches," CREW said in its brief.