(CNSNews.com) - Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said his committee will hold an oversight hearing next week on constitutional questions raised by the FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson's congressional office last Saturday night.

"Members of Congress must follow the law and be held accountable just like everyone else. By no means, should Rep. Jefferson's alleged conduct be condoned, but there is a constitutional way for justice to be served. The FBI's unprecedented Saturday night raid of Rep. Jefferson's Capitol Hill office raises profoundly disturbing constitutional questions that must be addressed," Sensenbrenner said in a press release.

The oversight hearing, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 30, is entitled, "Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?"

Also on Wednesday, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issued a joint statement flatly saying that the Justice Department was "wrong" to seize records from Congressman Jefferson's office.

The raid, they said, violates the Constitution -- "and the practice of the last 219 years."

The Founding Fathers intended to protect the Congress and the American people from abuses of power, and those principles deserve to be vigorously defended," Hastert and Pelosi said.

They are demanding that the Justice Department "immediately return the papers it unconstitutionally seized" from Rep. Jefferson, who is under investigation for bribery.

"Once that is done, Congressman Jefferson can and should fully cooperate with the Justice Department's efforts, consistent with his constitutional rights," the House leaders said.

They also warned the Justice Department to "immediately cease any further review of the documents it unconstitutionally seized [and] ensure that those who have reviewed the documents do not divulge their contents to the investigators..."

Justice Department officials have defended the FBI's search of Jefferson's office, and as the Los Angeles Daily News noted, the issue may end up in court, if the executive branch refuses to return the documents seized from Jefferson.

'For heaven's sake'

A government watchdog group, meanwhile, has criticized both Hastert and Pelosi for condemning the raid on Jefferson's office: "It is no wonder that the American people hold Congress in such low esteem," said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center.

"For heaven's sake, Jefferson was videotaped taking a cash bribe of $100,000," he noted.

Boehm said the unprecedented FBI raid (prosecutors normally use subpoenas in congressional investigations) has produced a "climate of fear" on Capitol Hill.

"The American people are demanding that Congressmen who have [allegedly] engaged in criminal behavior be fully investigated and prosecuted," Boehm said, adding that federal prosecutors should "ignore" attempts to limit criminal investigations of congressional lawmakers.

"The prosecutors should have the full support of the House leadership. Instead they get this intimidation.

"The American people are fed up with the corruption. They are fed up with congressmen who are only out for themselves. They are fed up with earmarks and all the spending. And they are fed up with the unwillingness of Congress to deal with actual problems of the country," Boehm concluded.

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