The U.S. Supreme Court rules 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 anti-corruption 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.

By a 6-3 vote, the justices overturned the conviction of a former Indiana mayor who asked for and took a $13,000 payment from the owners of a local truck dealership after he helped them win $1.1 million in city contracts for the purchase of garbage trucks.

In ruling for the former mayor, the justices drew a distinction between bribery, which requires proof of an illegal deal, and a gratuity that can be a gift or a reward for a past favor. They said the officials may be charged and prosecuted for bribery, but not for taking money for past favors if there was no proof of an illicit deal.

  • @Allonzee
    6•5 months ago

    I’m sorry, but again, jim crow.

    Our most revered eras of prosperity, except the 90s, were so prosperous on the backs of a massive, racially determined underclass supporting it and not benefitting from it with no other options. They never even had well funded schools worth the defunding that’s happened to the rest since then.

    And once a lot of people died getting rid of that, the owners decided fuck all the peasants, leading into today’s more widespread economic despair.

    Also rock and roll was derived from African American music of the times, and was just another thing white Americans stole from their racial underclass to benefit themselves.

    • @Psychodelic
      4•5 months ago

      I never said Jim Crow was cool or anything. lol

      I consider Black Americans Americans so… America gets the credit

      I don’t think we’re understanding each other here. Wasn’t really trying to argue. Sometimes, two things can be true. No?

      • @RunningInRVA
        2•5 months ago

        Two diametrically opposed things, you mean. And yes, they can.