members of Congress from arrest or prosecution for "legislative" acts. It says that senators and representatives "...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 from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place." This has been interpreted as providing civil and criminal immunity to members of Congress arising out of their official actions. However, in Gravel v. United States, the Supreme Court held that a grand jury could validly inquire into the processes by which a congressman obtained classified government documents and into the arrangements for subsequent private republication of these documents, since neither action involved protected conduct. “While the Speech or Debate Clause recognizes speech, voting and other legislative acts as exempt from liability that might otherwise attach, it does not privilege either Senator or aide to violate an otherwise valid criminal law in preparing for or implementing legislative acts.”
What happened in that case was that Senator Mike Gravel received a copy of the Pentagon Papers from an editor at The Washington Post, and Gravel smuggled the report into his Senate office.
After reading the material into the record, Gravel arranged to have the Pentagon Papers published by a private publisher. The trial court also held that publication of the Pentagon Papers by a private press was not protected by the Speech or Debate Clause. The Supreme Court upheld the district court's ruling regarding private publication. "[Private] publication by Senator Gravel through the cooperation of Beacon Press was in no way essential to the deliberations of the Senate; nor does questioning as to private publication threaten the integrity or independence of the Senate by impermissibly exposing its deliberations to executive influence."
So maybe it could be argued that disseminating the memo to the general public, Nunes might not be immune from prosecution for releasing classified materials. I don't know; it's a complicated issue.
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