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Judicial Watch and Allied Educational Foundation File Amici Brief in McDonnell Corruption Case
Brief Criticizes Drop in Corruption Prosecutions by Obama Administration
Contact: Brandon Cockerham, Judicial Watch, 202-646-5172
WASHINGTON, April 11, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Judicial Watch announced today that it joined with the Allied Educational Foundation (AEF) in filing an amici curiae brief with the United State Supreme Court in support of a federal court of appeals decision upholding the conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on 11 counts of corruption and fraud. The friends of court brief was filed on April 6, 2016.
In September 2014, McDonnell was convicted for granting political favors to a Richmond businessman in exchange for golf outings, lavish vacations and $120,000 in loans. In July 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit unanimously rejected McDonnell's appeal. In January 2016, the Supreme Court agreed to review the lower court's decision. Former Gov. McDonnell alleges the federal statues penalizing bribery and extortion are impermissibly vague under the U.S. Constitution.
In their amici brief in support of the Court of Appeals decision, Judicial Watch and AEF argue that the two laws at issue are straightforward tools for policing public corruption:
Public officials have a duty to act in the best interest of the people who elect them. When they make decisions based on personal interest, they are defrauding the public. The honest services statute criminalizes government corruption by punishing those who execute a scheme to deprive another of the right to "honest services." The Hobbs Act prohibits extortion "under color of official right."
Petitioner was convicted of violating these statutes as he accepted more than $175,000 in personal benefits (loans and luxury items) in exchange for agreeing to use the power of his office on behalf of his benefactor. In considering whether the actions taken by Petitioner constituted "official acts," amici urge the Court to adopt as broad as possible inter
The honest services statute and the Hobbs Act have served as critical tools in prosecuting public corruption. The Court should adopt a broad interpretation of what constitutes an "official act" as not to deprive prosecutors of these critical tools."
The amici brief suggests curtailing or scrapping these statutes would guarantee that more corrupt politicians and bureaucrats would escape prosecution and that public corruption prosecutions already have dropped dramatically under the Obama administration:
A long-term decline in federal prosecutions for public corruption has continued and reached a 20 year low. Data from the Justice Department show that 505 individuals were prosecuted for corruption offenses during FY 2015, a decline of 3.6 percent from FY 2014 and down more than 30 percent from five years ago. For the first four months of FY 2016, there have been just 140 new official corruption prosecutions. This is the lowest level reported for such prosecutions in the last 20 years.
