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June 19, 2005
A question for you lawyers out there
If I had worked at Guantanamo Bay, in any capacity, say guard, intelligence specialist, or interrogator, and I wanted to get together with a handful of my fellow guards etc, and sue Senator Durbin for libel, slander, etc, would I have a case?
If any of you legal types can offer opinions on this, I'd be interested to hear them. I haven't seen that mentioned as a possiblity anywhere else.
UPDATE: An Alert Reader draws my attention to this paragraph in Article 1, Section 6 of the US Constitution:
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.So I suppose that a slander or libel lawsuit would include "questioning" in some other place Durbin's speech and therefore, he can't be sued for it. On the other hand, if he was charged with Treason, which I suppose would be a criminal offense, rather than a civil offense, he would not be exempt from arrest. Am I reading this right?
Posted by Chester at June 19, 2005 2:19 PM
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