The Supreme Court Just Ruled In Favor Of Public Corruption, Again
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote the decision, likened the facts behind Wednesday’s SCOTUS decision in the Snyder v. U.S. case to a family tipping their mail carrier or students treating their college professor to a Chipotle’s dinner. But unless the tip or the dinner was worth thousands and given after the mail carrier or professor did a solid to the tune of about a million bucks, the comparison seems ridiculously stretched and convoluted. Or corrupt.
As The New York Times explained, the city of Portage, Indiana, while James Snyder was mayor, purchased five garbage trucks from a company called Great Lakes Peterbilt, for about $1.1 million. A year later, the company gave Snyder a check for $13,000 which he claimed was for consulting services.
More from The Times:
The F.B.I. and federal prosecutors said the bidding process had been manipulated to ensure the company prevailed. Investigators said the money was a gratuity for the garbage truck contracts, but Mr. Snyder said it was payment for his consulting services as a contractor for Peterbilt.
A jury convicted Mr. Snyder of accepting an illegal gratuity, and a federal judge sentenced him to more than a year in prison. On appeal, Mr. Snyder argued that the federal statute criminalized only bribes, not after-the-fact gratuities. A federal appeals court affirmed his conviction, and Mr. Snyder petitioned the Supreme Court to review the case.