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A comment on Obama's NSA Defense: Congress Can Raise Objections It Can't Actually Raise. Parent comment

Re:Obama's NSA Defense: Congress Can Raise Objections It Can... by known_unknowns on Monday June 10, 2013 @01:29AM (#5852573)
What I don't understand is how this squares with the Speech or Debate clause. Aren't members of Congress protected by the same sort of legislative immunity as they have in the UK, Canada, and Australia (where they call it "parliamentary privilege")?
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Re:Obama's NSA Defense: Congress Can Raise Objections It Can... by spc476 on Monday June 10, 2013 @02:15AM (#5852695)
Somewhat. Article I, section 6 of the United States Constitution: "They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and return from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place."

How that plays out in this situation, I'm not sure, since I'm not a Constitutional Scholar, nor a lawyer.

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Re:Obama's NSA Defense: Congress Can Raise Objections It Can... by Natsu on Monday June 10, 2013 @03:39AM (#5852924)
They would simply charge them with a felony--revealing classified information.
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Re:Obama's NSA Defense: Congress Can Raise Objections It Can... by coolj on Monday June 10, 2013 @03:47AM (#5852947)
INAL but I believe they could be charged under the Espionage Act (18 USC sec. 793) for leaking national security secrets, which is a felony, and they would lose privilege.
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Re:Obama's NSA Defense: Congress Can Raise Objections It Can... by Andrew_Quentin on Monday June 10, 2013 @01:00PM (#5855629)
That seems to be no different than the law applied to any citizen.
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Re:Obama's NSA Defense: Congress Can Raise Objections It Can... by jmadsen on Monday June 10, 2013 @02:10AM (#5852679)
I think it's more a case of, "oh, I see you don't want to be re-elected. We can arrange that" rather than direct prosecution.

That's why you don't see guys like Bernie Sanders on those committees :-)

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