Supreme Court May Relax Federal Bribery Law

The Supreme Court seemed unreceptive on April 15 to the Biden administration’s efforts to uphold the bribery conviction of former small-town mayor James Snyder. The justices appeared willing during oral arguments to rein in the broad sweep of a public corruption law that civil libertarians say has been used overzealously by prosecutors in recent years. The law criminalizes the receipt of gifts by certain government employees. The court has been willing to overturn corruption convictions that involve public officials doing things that some think of as normal political activities. For example, in 2016, the Supreme Court vacated the conviction of the former Republican governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, for taking gifts from a benefactor without actually taking action to benefit that person....