Supreme Court opinions: Ex-Portage mayor's bribery conviction overturned, narrowing corruption law

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court overturned the bribery conviction of a former Indiana mayor on Wednesday, the latest in a series of decisions narrowing the scope of federal public corruption law.

The high court's 6-3 opinion along ideological lines found the law criminalizes bribes given before an official act, not rewards handed out after.

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"Some gratuities can be problematic. Others are commonplace and might be innocuous," Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote. The lines aren't always clear, especially since many state and local officials have other jobs, he said.

The high court sided with James Snyder, a Republican who was convicted of taking $13,000 from a trucking company after prosecutors said he steered about $1 million worth of city contracts to the company.

In Chicago, it's known as a kickback.

"He was convicted by a federal jury, and, today, the Supreme Court said that the federal law doesn't actually make his conduct illegal," said Jonathon Masur, with University of Chicago Law School.

In a sharply worded dissent joined by her liberal colleagues, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the distinction between bribes and gratuities ignores the wording of the law aimed at rooting out public corruption.

"Snyder's absurd and atextual reading of the statute is one that only today's court could love," she wrote.

SEE ALSO: Lake County sheriff, Portage mayor indicted on public corruption charges

The decision continues a pattern in recent years of the court restricting the government's ability to use broad federal laws to prosecute public corruption cases. The justices also overturned the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in 2016 and sharply curbed prosecutors' use of an anti-fraud law in the case of ex-Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling in 2010.

The decision also comes as the Supreme Court itself has faced sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices that led the high court to adopt its first code of ethics, though it lacks an enforcement mechanism.

Snyder was elected mayor of Portage in 2011 and was removed from office when he was first convicted in 2019. He has maintained his innocence, saying the money he received was payment for consulting work. His attorneys said that prosecutors hadn't proved there was a "quid pro quo" exchange agreement before the contracts were awarded.

The Justice Department countered that the law was clearly meant to cover gifts "corruptly" given to public officials as rewards for favored treatment.

Kavanaugh, writing for the high court majority, disagreed, finding that interpretation would "create traps for unwary state and local officials" and would "subject 19 million public officials to a new regulatory regime," though he said a gratuity could be unethical or illegal under other laws.

Wednesday's decision could have a major effect on corruption cases in Illinois, including those of former House Speaker Mike Madigan and the so-called ComEd Four.

The key provision of the federal bribery statute used in both cases was thrown out Wednesday.

Masur said Wednesday's ruling said "gratuities" can be prosecuted under applicable state laws. The high court's decision will affect past, pending and future federal public corruption cases brought under the statute.

"It's gonna put an enormous amount of pressure on prosecutors to prove that there was a kind of quid pro quo before the fact that there was an agreement of payment of a bribe in exchange for some service performed later," Masur said.

Defense attorneys for the ComEd Four said the ruling should result in a new trial for Michael McClain, Anne Pramaggiore, John Hooker and Jay Doherty.

Pramaggiore's attorney said the Supreme Court decision makes clear what she was charged with is not a crime.

"I imagine you're gonna have a bunch of people going back in the court wanting to vacate convictions," said Richard Kling, with the Chicago Kent College of Law.

It's too early to determine exactly how the ruling will affect the Madigan case.

His trial is set for October.

Madigan's lead attorney did not respond to requests for a comment; neither did the U.S. attorney.

But former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's spokesman said, "Governor Blagojevich spent 8 years in prison for practicing politics. He broke no laws and took no gratuities. He refused to give in to the corrupt prosecution brought against him. It was routine political talk and lawful requests for campaign contributions made by third parties without any quid pro quo. The prosecutors won convictions in his case by using a standard the U.S. Supreme Court expressly said was not the law by turning legal requests for political donations into fake crimes.

"The governor and his legal team are exploring all legal option as he continues his 15-year fight for justice."

ABC7 Chicago's Sarah Schulte contributed to this report.