Supreme Court Pushes the boundaries on sleaze: Our view - USA Today

[Bill USA]

"Court ruling opens the door to more corruption"


http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/06/28/mcdonnell-supreme-court-bribery-corruption-editorials-debates/86484302/

Politicians who lack an ethical compass just got permission from the Supreme Court to push the envelope on sleazy actions a little further. In vacating the conviction of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell on corruption charges, the court made it more difficult for federal prosecutors to secure bribery convictions.

The court’s unanimous action underscores the need for criminal statutes to be clear so everybody, including public officials, knows when they cross the line into illegality. And federal prosecutors should not overreach, as the court found they had in the McDonnell case, referring to the government’s “boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute.”

The ruling leaves more room for public officials to act in ways that ordinary citizens find sleazy and frankly crooked but which have too often become business as usual from city halls to governors’ mansions to the U.S. Capitol.

There was no question that McDonnell, once a rising Republican star, and his wife took $175,000 worth of gifts and loans from a Virginia businessman, including wedding catering, a New York shopping spree and a Rolex. There was no question the episode was, as the court put it, “tawdry.”
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[flying_wahini]

1. Some of the SCOTUS is probably in on some sweet deals....

[elleng]

2. 'The court’s unanimous action underscores the need for criminal statutes to be clear

so everybody, including public officials, knows when they cross the line into illegality.'

This is not new. Good it's been stated, but too bad it had to be.