Some Good News for “Dollar Bill” Jefferson

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Today, “Dollar Bill” Jefferson received the first bit of good news he’s had in some time, at least since August 2005, when the FBI descended on the Louisiana congressman’s home and turned up $90,000 in alleged bribe money stashed in his freezer. A federal appeals court ruled today that the bureau’s subsequent raid of the lawmaker’s congressional office in May 2006, an unprecedented move which sparked outcry from Jefferson’s colleagues on both sides of the aisle, was unconstitutional and infringed on the independence of Congress. ”The review of the Congressman’s paper files when the search was executed exposed legislative material to the Executive,” the court ruled. ”The Congressman is entitled to the return of documents that the court determines to be privileged.” Jefferson’s not out of the woods yet. Far from it. According to the Justice Department, it didn’t rely on the documents in question when making its case against Jefferson, who was indicted on 16 counts in June.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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