Rep. Jefferson's Documents Remain Locked Up

The documents seized from Representative William Jefferson's office in the Rayburn House Office Building in May will remain sealed while he pursues an appeal of U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan's decision upholding the search.  The D.C. Circuit issued an administrative injunction prohibiting the Department of Justice from beginning its review of the records, in response to a deadline of July 26 set by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after which investigators would being looking through them.  An AP story (here) quotes the order: "The purpose of this administrative injunction is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the motion for a stay pending appeal and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion."  As discussed in an earlier post (here), one issue that will likely arise before the appellate court is whether Jefferson can challenge the search because the district court's decision may be a collateral order, which means it cannot be appealed until after the conclusion of the criminal case.  Once again, it is time to hurry up and wait as the investigation stalls awaiting further judicial action on the legality of the search. (ph)