The Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the convictions of two key players in the so-called Bridgegate case that rocked the administration of former New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie.
Former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni, the deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the George Washington bridge, were found guilty in 2016 after a jury determined that they shut down two of three bridge lanes leading into Manhattan from Ft. Lee, New Jersey, as political payback.
In a unanimous opinion, written by New York City native Elena Kagan, the court said federal prosecutors wrongly charged the two officials with violating laws that target fraudulent schemes for obtaining property. Realigning the bridge traffic was an exercise of regulatory power, not an attempt to get money or property, the court said.
Prosecutors had said Kelly and Baroni shut down the lanes, which cause monumental traffic jams, to punish the mayor of Ft. Lee after he refused to support Christie's re-election campaign.
Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.
The brief Supreme Court opinion was a complete rejection of the prosecution's theory of the case. No doubt the two officials acted wrongly, it said, and the jury heard evidence of "deception, corruption, abuse of power. But federal fraud statutes do not criminalize all such conduct." It's a crime only if the object of their dishonest was to obtain government money or property.
Federal prosecutors cannot use the property fraud laws to set standards for official conduct, the court said. If they could, "every lie a state or local official tells in making such a decision" would be a federal crime. The Justice Department cannot use criminal law "to enforce its view of integrity in broad swatches of state and local policymaking."
The Supreme Court’s decision Thursday did not come as a surprise. When the case was argued earlier in January, several of the justices appeared to be skeptical of the prosecution's theory of the case — that the two committed fraud by lying about their reason for closing the bridge. Kelly and Baroni had said they needed to conduct a study of traffic patterns, but a jury found that the real reason was to punish the mayor of a community served by the bridge who refused to endorse the Republican governor's re-election.
The justices also seemed concerned that if the court upheld the convictions, it would open the door to charging any public official with fraud by asserting that he or she lied in claiming to act in the public interest. That might include a city official who orders potholes repaired to reward the mayor's political base while justifying it on policy grounds.
Kelly and Baroni had been sentenced to prison for their role in the scheme. Kelly was to report in the summer but has been allowed to remain free while the case is on appeal. Baroni began serving his sentence in April but was released on bond when the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
In a lengthy statement, Christie, whose reputation was tarnished by the scandal, lauded the decision and bashed the Justice Department for having pursued the charges in the first place.
"The unanimous decision today by the U.S. Supreme Court ends a 6 ½ year political crusade by former U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman and the Obama Justice Department against Bill Baroni, Bridget Kelly and dozens of members of my Administration," he said. "As many contended from the beginning, and as the Court confirmed today, no federal crimes were ever committed in this matter by anyone in my Administration. It is good for all involved that today justice has finally been done."
Christie, who attended the Supreme Court arguments in January, added that there would be "no words of apology that would be sufficient to right the wrongs" he said occurred.
"case" - Google News
May 07, 2020 at 09:23PM
https://ift.tt/2Wd6SOS
Supreme Court tosses out convictions in Bridgegate case - NBCNews.com
"case" - Google News
https://ift.tt/37dicO5
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Supreme Court tosses out convictions in Bridgegate case - NBCNews.com"
Post a Comment