The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday to weaken a federal statute that guards against public corruption, a reading that Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson said “only today’s court could love.”
In a 6-3 ruling by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the conservative supermajority sided with James Snyder, the former mayor of Portage, Indiana who accepted an alleged bribe of $13,000 in exchange for a towing contract. Snyder argued the exchange was an “after-the-fact gratuity,” not a bribe, CNN reported.
The law in question makes it a federal crime to “corruptly accept anything valued above $5,000," monetary or not.
The Supreme Court's ruling means that local officials may now legally accept de-facto bribes if they come in the form of gratuities. All three liberal justices dissented.
“The Government’s interpretation of the statute would create traps for unwary state and local officials,” Kavanaugh argued.
Jackson, by contrast, said that the law honors “Congress’ intent to punish rewards corruptly accepted by government officials in ways that are functionally indistinguishable from taking a bribe.” She also called the court’s reading of the law “absurd and atextual.”
“I respectfully dissent,” she concluded.
The case, Snyder v. United States, is the latest in a string of decisions weakening anti-corruption laws. Most notably, last year the court scrapped fraud convictions in two cases against aides of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
