Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) is facing a federal criminal investigation. His home was raided by the FBI. He was named one of the most corrupt members of Congress by CREW in Beyond DeLay. But, he has a plan. He's using the "Jefferson defense":

Rep. William Jefferson was the Democratic congressman from Louisiana caught with $90,000 in the freezer of his Washington home. He goes to trial in February on bribery charges. Jefferson has tried to claim that an FBI search of his congressional office in 2006, done with a valid search warrant from a court, was an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers.

Now, Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, has crawled into the freezer with Jefferson.

On Dec. 19 Doolittle said he is challenging the constitutionality of subpoenas, issued by a federal grand jury, which seek congressional office records related to his relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

It's purely a strategy of delay. "My attorney tells me that this issue alone – the constitutional issue presented by those subpoenas … is going to take one to two years to resolve," Doolittle said.

Such self-serving twaddle has little to do with constitutional principle, whether spouted by Doolittle or Jefferson. Certainly, the Constitution protects members of Congress from questioning or arrest regarding legitimate legislative activities – to guarantee the independence of the legislative branch. But members of Congress are not above criminal law; their offices have no immunity to conceal crime.