The Justice Department has some serious explaining to do as to why the FBI raided a sitting congressman's office on Saturday. Whatever one thinks of Rep. William Jefferson, the raid was a serious overstep by the FBI, one that raises legitimate concerns about the seperation of powers as envisioned by the Founders.

Newt Gingrich is also highly concerned:

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), in an e-mail to colleagues with the subject line "on the edge of a constitutional confrontation," called the Saturday night raid "the most blatant violation of the Constitutional Separation of Powers in my lifetime." He urged President Bush to discipline or fire "whoever exhibited this extraordinary violation."

Speaker Dennis Hastert is not amused:

"Insofar as I am aware, since the founding of our Republic 219 years ago, the Justice Department has never found it necessary to do what it did Saturday night, crossing this Separation of Powers line, in order to successfully prosecute corruption by Members of Congress...nothing I have learned in the last 48 hours leads me to believe that there was any necessity to change the precedent established over those 219 years."

A prompt and serious inquiry should commence to determine precisely on what grounds the raid was authorized, and who authorized it.