FBI to grill Congressmen on wiretap leaks

I was a little torn on the issue of whether searching a Representative's office was a violation of the separation of powers. On the one hand, it was unprecedented and just happened to come at a time when the executive branch is infamously attempting to expand its powers beyond constitutional limits. On the other hand, Congressmen are citizens just like the rest of us, and it certainly looks as though they had Jefferson dead to rights.

But this brief piece from Roll Call suggests that there's more reason to be concerned with executive overreach and the threat to free speech and a free press. And the timing of this announcement seems more than coincidental-- as though the search of Jefferson's office was something of a test run. In its entirety:

The FBI is seeking interviews with top House Members from both parties to determine whether they leaked details of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program to The New York Times, further fanning the flames of an already tense relationship between Capitol Hill and the Bush administration.