The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down part of a federal anti-corruption law that makes it a crime for state and local officials to receive gifts valued at more than $5,000 from a donor who had previously received lucrative contracts or other government benefits thanks to the official’s efforts. .
By a vote of 6-3, the judges overturned the conviction of a former Indiana mayor who asked for and received a $13,000 payment from the owners of a local truck dealership after helping them win $1.1 million in city contracts to purchase garbage trucks.
In ruling in favor of the former speaker of the House, the judges drew a distinction between a bribe, which requires proof of an illegal agreement, and a gratuity that could be a gift or a reward for a past favor. They said officials can be charged and prosecuted for bribery, but not for simply receiving money for past favors if there is no evidence of an illicit agreement.
“The question in this case is whether [the federal law] it also makes it a crime for state and local officials to accept gratuities – for example, gift cards, lunches, plaques, books, framed photos or the like – that can be given as a thank you after the official act. The answer is no,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, writing for the majority.
Despite its reference to symbolic gifts such as lunches and framed photos, the federal law was only triggered by payments of more than $5,000.
But the court’s conservative majority said the law in question was a “bribery law, not a gratuity law.” Kavanaugh said federal law “leaves it to state and local governments to regulate gratuities to state and local officials.”
Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
“Officials who use their public positions for private gain threaten the integrity of our most important institutions,” Jackson wrote in dissent. The law as written “does not pose a genuine threat to ordinary gift-giving, but it” clearly covers the kind of corrupt (though perhaps not quid pro quo) payments that Snyder requested after forwarding the city’s contracts to the utility.
The decision could have a wide-ranging impact. About 20 million local and state employees are covered by federal anti-corruption law, including employees at hospitals and universities that receive federal funds.
Justice Department lawyers told the court that for nearly 40 years, the anti-bribery law was understood to prohibit payments to officials who “rewarded” them for forwarding contracts to donors.
Supreme Court justices have faced heavy criticism recently for accepting undisclosed gifts from wealthy clients. Judge Clarence Thomas he regularly took luxurious vacations and flew on private jets paid for by Texas billionaire Harlan Crow. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. went on a fishing trip to Alaska in 2008 aboard a private plane owned by Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire.
The high court has long held that criminal laws restricting “illegal gratuities” to federal employees require proof that the gifts were given for a specific “official act” and not just because of the employee’s position.
The Indiana mayor was charged and convicted of accepting a $13,000 payment because of his role in helping his clients win city contracts.
In 1986, Congress extended federal bribery law to cover employees of state or local agencies who receive federal funds. The measure made it a crime to “corruptly request or demand…or accept…anything of a value of $5,000 or more…with the intent to be influenced or rewarded in connection with any business or transaction.”
Prosecutors said James Snyder was heavily in debt and late paying his taxes when he became mayor of Portage, Indiana, in 2012. The city needed new garbage trucks, and the mayor took on the necessary public bidding. He spoke regularly with two brothers who owned a local truck dealership that was also experiencing financial problems, and designed the bidding process so that only the two new trucks met all standards. He also arranged for the city to purchase an old truck that was in his parking lot.
Two weeks after the contracts were finalized, the mayor went to see the two brothers and told them about his financial problems. They agreed to write him a check for $13,000 for indefinite consulting services.
An FBI investigation led to Snyder’s indictment, conviction and a 21-month prison sentence.
The former mayor argued that an after-the-fact gift should not be a crime, but lost before a federal judge and the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago.
The high court agreed to hear his appeal in Snyder v. USA because appeals courts in Boston and New Orleans limited the law only to bribery and not to gratuities paid later.
See more information: Unanimous Supreme Court Overturns New Jersey ‘Bridgegate’ Fraud Convictions
In recent years, the Supreme Court has repeatedly limited the scope of laws against public corruption, and often in unanimous decisions. The common theme is that the judges concluded that the cases went beyond the law.
Last year, the court was unanimous in overturning the corruption convictions of two New York men who were former aides or donors to the then-governor. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. The court noted that one of the defendants convicted of receiving illicit payments did not work for the State during this period.
Four years ago, the judges were unanimous in overturning the convictions of two aides to then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, who were accused of conspiring to close the access roads to the George Washington Bridge in New York City. . The court said they were wrongly convicted of fraud because they did not look for money or goods, which is a key element of a fraud charge.
In 2016, the court overturned the corruption conviction of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, a Republican. Although the governor received $175,000 in gifts from a business promoter, he took no official steps to benefit the donor, the court said.
This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
