Supreme Court wipes out anticorruption law that bars officials from taking gifts for past favors
LA TimesThe U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that state and local officials may take gifts and payments for steering contracts to grateful patrons. The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down part of a federal anticorruption law that makes it a crime for state and local officials to take gifts valued at more than $5,000 from a donor who had previously been awarded lucrative contracts or other government benefits thanks to the efforts of the official. But the court’s conservative majority said the law in question was a “bribery statute, not a gratuities law.” Kavanaugh said federal law “leaves it to state and local governments to regulate gratuities to state and local officials.” Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. The high court has long held that criminal laws restricting “illegal gratuities” to federal officials require proof that the gifts were given for a specific “official act,” not just because of the official’s position.
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