Court gives lawmakers legal protection

WASHINGTON (AP) - What Congress members divulge in Capitol Hill ethics probes about their own behavior can't be used against them in federal criminal investigations, an appeals court ruled in a case arising from the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

Legal observers saw the ruling as an expansion of immunity for federal lawmakers that could make it harder for lawmen to go after misconduct in Congress.

The case involves former Florida Republican Rep. Tom Feeney and a golf trip he took to Scotland, paid for by the now-imprisoned Abramoff.

The House Ethics Committee said in 2007 that the trip violated House rules and Feeney agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $5,643, the purported cost of the trip.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington revealed — in an opinion filed June 23 but just unsealed Thursday — that the Justice Department subsequently began an investigation into statements Feeney made to the committee. The opinion, which did not name Feeney but described elements of his case, concluded that statements to the ethics committee are excluded from criminal investigations by the Constitution.

The court cited the section of the Constitution known as the "Speech or Debate Clause" because it says speech or debate in Congress "shall not be questioned in any other place."

A lower court had rejected Feeney's argument that his statements to the ethics committee should be kept from the Justice investigators, but the appeals court overturned that decision.

Feeney said in a statement issued by his attorney that he's grateful for the decision.

"I have said all along that I engaged in no wrongdoing in connection with my trip to Scotland while a member of Congress," the statement said. "I hope that the court's decision will now bring this matter to a close."

Lance Cole, a law professor at Penn State's Dickinson School of Law who has served as a special counsel in the U.S. Senate, said the decision is more evidence that the appeals court in Washington will interpret the protections granted members of Congress by the Speech or Debate Clause very broadly.

In 2007, the appeals court ruled the FBI violated the Constitution when agents raided U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's Capitol Hill office and viewed legislative documents in a corruption investigation.

"That approach will favor the interests of members of Congress over law enforcement and private litigants who sue members of Congress," Cole said.

Feeney's case was decided by a panel of three judges who were Republican nominees. Judges Douglas Ginsburg and Stephen Williams were nominated by former President Ronald Reagan, while Judge Brett Kavanaugh was nominated by former President George W. Bush. Kavanaugh was an assistant to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr during his investigation of then_President Bill Clinton.

Other congressmen and their aides who attended the golf trips to Scotland that Abramoff organized to curry favor with officials have faced criminal prosecution. Former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, served prison time after admitting trading political favors for a trip and other gifts from Abramoff and his associates. Others who went on the trips who have been convicted include Ney's former chief of staff William Heaton; Mark Zachares, a former aide to Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska; and David Safavian, the government's former chief procurement officer.

Feeney asked the ethics committee to review the financing of his August 2003 trip to Scotland after news reports said Abramoff paid for the trip, even though House rules prohibit lobbyists from paying for lawmakers' travel.

Feeney had reported on his annual financial disclosure form that the trip was paid by The National Center for Public Policy Research, where Abramoff was on the board of directors. After the ethics investigation, Feeney's staff said in the end he wasn't certain who financed the trip.

Democrats targeted Feeney for defeat in the 2008 election because of his ties to Abramoff. Feeney appeared in a campaign ad apologizing for the trip and calling Abramoff a "corrupt lobbyist." He was defeated by Democrat Suzanne Kosmas and registered as a lobbyist in Tallahassee, Fla., earlier this year.

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Associated Press reporter Pete Yost contributed to this report.