On Sat, Jan 18, 2014 at 6:49 PM, Cari Machet <carimachet@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 12:43 AM, coderman <coderman@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, Jan 18, 2014 at 2:59 PM, grarpamp <grarpamp@gmail.com> wrote:
... Though lacking a reference, I believe members of congress may speak/leak at will on the floor in open public session and shall not be held to any crime for doing so. Of course in return the government or the public may not support their ongoing candidacy.
citation? my understanding is that statements in congress are public, and subject to same unauthorized disclosure laws. only the POTUS can unilaterally decide to "leak" something in public without legal repercussions (impeachment aside).
they cannot speak/leak neither can the executive branch > see dick cheney
""" US Constitution - Art 1, Sec 6: The Senators and Representatives ... 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 returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. """ The bit after the semicolon is interesting. It appears to grant immunity outside Place of Congress for speech in Congress, and since Congress has no real internal law/police/judge/jail of its own, speak all you want. This has been subsequently developed... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_or_Debate_Clause Then there's Art 1 Sec 5 PP2 and PP3 and so on that might be applied after the fact. Though right now there is CSPAN and observation balconies for the public/press, so any speech bombs that someone drops would make it out to the world. Congress (Sen/Rep) is not the Executive (VP), so different rules can and do apply there.