New Jersey Democrat Rep. LaMonica McIver urged a federal appeals court Wednesday to throw out the three-count indictment against her, arguing her arrest outside a federal immigration detention center last year interfered with her legislative duties.
In challenging the charges, McIver has argued that Trump administration officials have targeted her for her opposition to the administration, and that the case impedes on constitutional protections for acts relating to the “Speech or Debate” for members of Congress.
Paul Fishman, an attorney for McIver, told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit that the government can’t separate the purpose of the visit, which was oversight of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, from the altercation between McIver and ICE officials.
“The entire visit was a manifestly legislative act,” Fishman said.
Much of the argument turns on the application of the clause in the Constitution, which says “for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.”
