[effaustin cross-posting allowed to stand, but will likely get a bounce] U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 6, reads The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. 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 returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. The "Speech or Debate" clause is central here. Sen. Feinstein made her accusations on the floor of the Senate. In the Washington style, her accusations are a declaration of war. The first effect will be that she no longer gets information feeds from the Agencies, which is to say from the Executive Branch. That is a big deal; recall that when asked about what a President Obama would mean to the country's policies, soon-to-be-ex-President Bush said "He'll be fine as soon as he's reading what I'm reading." --dan