Speech or Debate Clause
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Search complete. 44 mentions across 12 episodes found for "Speech or Debate Clause".
Sep 25, 2026
PoloPANELIST
So, so what makes her better than the everyday person who could get in trouble for something like that?
Joe PagsHOST
It's called the Speech and Debate Clause.
Joe PagsHOST
It literally only goes to those who are serving in Congress.
Joe PagsHOST
She isn't better.
PoloPANELIST
Well-
Joe PagsHOST
None of the...
Joe PagsHOST
Even the ones that I like there aren't better than us as far as the rights go, but they've, they've got this ridiculous Speech and Debate Clause.
Joe PagsHOST
They can say anything they want with total immunity.
Pedro RiveraHOST
New this morning, former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez appealed to a panel of judges to have his corruption conviction thrown out and for the case to be retired.
Pedro RiveraHOST
Attorneys for Menendez and his wife Nadine, they argued that their actions were protected by the Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause.
Pedro RiveraHOST
Menendez was convicted of using his influence as the chair of the Senate for Relations Committee in exchange for gold bars and other lavish gifts.
Pedro RiveraHOST
Last year, the former senator was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
John AughenbaughHOST
And this particular clause is one that's near and dear to me and I because we have a podcast that's entitled Civil Discourse, which is about talking.
John AughenbaughHOST
So what we're going to be looking at is what's known as the speech or debate clause, right? This is found in Article 1, Section 6, and it's Clause 1.
John AughenbaughHOST
So Article 1, listeners, deals with the legislative branch, and it specifically protects U.S. senators and representatives for any criminal or civil liability for speech or debate in either house.
John AughenbaughHOST
The idea behind it is we should encourage members of our national legislature to engage in speech and debate before they pass legislation.
9 MINS LATER
Nia RogersHOST
responsible in any other way.
John AughenbaughHOST
Yeah.
John AughenbaughHOST
So, you know, so, again, using the example of I as a member of the Senate, right, and I have three or four staffers, right? none of those staffers are picked by the citizens of my state who elected me, right? So if they go ahead and abuse the speech or debate clause, it's not like the voters can go ahead and say, well,
Nia RogersHOST
yeah,
Dan NewmanHOST
They had been spied on for years.
Dan NewmanHOST
Members of Congress communications are protected under the speech or debate clause of the Constitution.
Dan NewmanHOST
Now, this is being said by committee chairman, DOJ Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan.
Dan NewmanHOST
And he said members of Congress's communications are protected under the speech or debate clause.
Dan NewmanHOST
And Jack Smith knows this.
Dan NewmanHOST
But he ignored the Constitution to spy on Republicans.
Dan NewmanHOST
Whether through arrogance or maliciousness, these partisan prosecutors were willing to violate the Constitution.
Dan NewmanHOST
and break additionally prosecutorial norms to achieve their very narrow goals.
Paul EngelHOST
But also notice, they cannot be questioned for anything they say during a speech or debate in either house.
Paul EngelHOST
So a speech or debate, the speech or debate clause, anything they basically say in their actual house, the House or the Senate, in their actual Congress, they cannot be questioned.
Paul EngelHOST
That is as close to immunity as you get in the Constitution.
Paul EngelHOST
Ms. Haley doesn't know that.
Kevin Perez-AllenHOST
Nixon takes Laird's advice.
Kevin Perez-AllenHOST
A senator can't be sued for what he says in a hearing because the Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause protects it.
Kevin Perez-AllenHOST
A newspaper quoting the congressional record is quoting a public document.
Kevin Perez-AllenHOST
The Justice Department files nothing against the Post and starts looking for the man who handed a senator 4,000 pages.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
These so-called textualists, these so-called originalists.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Where do you see in the Constitution anything about the president having immunity? When the Framers wanted to write immunity in the Constitution, they did it, like with the Speech and Debate Clause for members of Congress.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Maybe that's what they're gonna wanna give up next, the Speech and Debate Clause protecting us from prosecution by the executive branch for saying things that he doesn't like.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Well, uh, that's not in the original Constitution.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The president's got it, but they made it up.
Jean DennisHOST
As we mentioned in earlier episodes, the Articles of Confederation did not include a Bill of Rights.
Jean DennisHOST
The provisions relating to protecting individual rights were a protection for members of Congress against being questioned in any court or place out of Congress for any speech made in Congress, what we know today as the Speech and Debate Clause, for protecting members of Congress from arrests and imprisonments during the time of their going to and from or attending Congress.
Jean DennisHOST
except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace, what we know today as the Privilege from Arrest Clause, and a provision that ensured that, quote, free inhabitants of any state, excluding paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice, were entitled to the privileges and immunities of free citizens in other states, which we know today as the Privileges and Immunities Clause.
Eric HolmesGUEST
Yes, and the right to a jury trial was among the rights left out of the Articles of Confederation.
Michael PopokHOST
She knows she could never sustain that through appeal.
Michael PopokHOST
Besides, they're right under the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution.
Michael PopokHOST
They're privileged right under the First Amendment.
Michael PopokHOST
And plus, they were telling the truth.
2 more episodes mention Speech or Debate Clause.
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