Supreme Court legalizes bribery when you do it right

[struggle4progress]

4. Tipping culture out of control.

MARCIE JONES
JUN 26, 2024

... The case is Snyder vs. US:

This case involves James Snyder, who is the former mayor of Portage, Indiana. In 2013, while Snyder was mayor, Portage awarded two contracts to a local truck company, Great Lakes Peterbilt, and ultimately purchased five trash trucks from the company for about $1.1 million. In 2014, Peterbilt cut a $13,000 check to Snyder. The FBI and federal prosecutors suspected that the payment was a gratuity for the City’s trash truck contracts. But Snyder said that the payment was for his consulting services as a contractor for Peterbilt. A federal jury ultimately convicted Snyder of accepting an illegal gratuity in violation of §666(a)(1)(B). The District Court sentenced Snyder to 1 year and 9 months in prison. On appeal, Snyder argued that §666 criminalizes only bribes, not gratuities. The Seventh Circuit affirmed Snyder’s conviction.

But in a 6-3 decision (guess which six, just guess!), beer-lover Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority that it’s only really bribery if someone shows up with a bag of cash with a dollar sign on it and both parties recite at the same time, “this is a bribe.” But a post-dated check, why, that’s just a sparkling gratuity! Wrote he:

“The question in this case is whether §666 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 may be given as a token of appreciation after the official act. The answer is no” ...

https://www.wonkette.com/p/supreme-court-it-aint-bribery-if