Supreme Court sides with mayor accused of accepting a bribe in latest ruling to limit public anti-corruption laws

CNN —

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with the former mayor of an Indiana city accused of accepting a bribe in exchange for a towing contract, the latest decision in which the high court has weakened federal anti-corruption laws.

James Snyder, the former mayor of Portage, Indiana, was convicted of accepting $13,000 from a trucking company weeks after it was awarded a contract. Snyder argued the payment was an after-the-fact “gratuity” that wasn’t covered by the federal bribery statute.

The ruling was 6-3 on conservative-liberal ideological lines.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in the majority opinion, said that if the appeal were accepted, it would “radically upend gratuities rules and turn (the law) into a vague and unfair trap for 19 million state and local officials.”

Former Portage Mayor James Snyder arrives for his sentencing with his family at the federal courthouse in Hammond, Indiana, in October 2021.

During oral arguments in April, the justices wrestled with how the law might apply to more common exchanges – say, a wealthy patient who donates a large sum to a hospital where she received exceptional care. Several of the justices were concerned about federal prosecutors using the anti-bribery law to criminalize more benign payments.

The law at issue makes it a federal crime for local officials to “corruptly” take anything valued at over $5,000. Part of the challenge of the case was setting a standard for how to define “corruptly.”

In a series of recent decisions, the Supreme Court has adopted a narrow interpretations of federal anti-corruption laws. Last year, the court tossed out fraud convictions in two cases involving former aides of then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.