SOME PEOPLE WORRY THAT THE FBI INVESTIGATION of potential Congressional leaks is dubious, given that Congress is simultaneously investigating the FBI for ineptitude, etc., regarding the 9/11 attacks.

This is a reasonable thing to worry about. I’ve gotten a couple of emails saying that Congressional immunity should apply — but members of Congress only have official immunity for things said during the conduct of their official business and (as Bill Proxmire found out when he libeled a scientist as part of his “Golden Fleece Award” PR program) the courts don’t consider talking to the presss official business.

The fact that the Executive and Legislative branches can investigate one another is part of the checks-and-balances system; in terms of accountability, after all, it’s preferable to a system in which neither can investigate the other. The main check on abuse of this kind of power is political — and as the FBI comes under criticism, and as members of Congress refuse to take lie-detector tests (they should: a lie detector test is about as scientific as the witch-weighing employed in Monty Python’s Holy Grail) and threaten retaliation, it will likely die down.

The bright side: nothing makes a politician appreciate the importance of constitutional rights like being placed under investigation.