Are lawmakers ‘supercitizens’? Constitutional question could delay Rep. Chris Collins case

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Roll Call

A question over the legal privileges granted to members of Congress threatens to delay the insider trading case against Rep. Chris Collins.

The New York Republican faces trial in February on 11 felony charges stemming from millions of dollars he poured into an Australian biotech company, Innate Immunotherapeutics. After Collins, a member of the board, discovered the company's sole drug failed a key clinical trial, the 27th District congressman tipped off his son, warning him to unload his stock, according to the federal indictment.

In challenging his indictment, Collins has raised the Speech or Debate clause of the U.S. Constitution, which protects lawmakers from arrest for actions taken in the course of legislating.

Does the same freedom of speech guarantee that protected Sen. Mike Gravel from retaliation for reading the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record also shield emails that Collins exchanged on a private email account about legislation that could have boosted the profits of Innate?

Attorneys for Collins with the powerhouse firm BakerHostetler made that case in a letter filed to the Southern District of New York Thursday, The Buffalo News reported.

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Sometimes a scam is still a scam...