William Jefferson (Getty)
The Supreme Court on Monday announced it would not hear a challenge by former Louisiana Democratic Rep. William J. Jefferson to his indictment on public corruption charges.
Jefferson is scheduled to stand trial on June 2 on 16 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, soliciting bribes and other charges. He had challenged the bribery-related counts, on the grounds that the grand jury heard evidence that was covered by the constitutional "Speech and Debate" clause that immunizes lawmakers from criminal or civil actions launched because of their legislative duties.
Jefferson's argument previously had been rejected by a federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. The Supreme Court denied Jefferson's petition that it review the case without comment.
Lawyers for Jefferson had sought to review transcripts of all the grand jury procedings in the case, but the government provided only transcripts of testimony by Jefferson's aides -- albeit more than 600 pages of those. They found what they argued was evidence of testimony covered by the constitutional clause, and unsuccessfully moved to dismiss the bribery-related counts in the indictment.
The district court had held that Jefferson was not entitled to the grand jury material he sought, because the indictment did not involve conduct covered by the clause.
Jefferson's attorney, Robert P. Trout, declined to comment on the Supreme Court's action.
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