The second and FINAL #SCOTUS opinion today: Snyder v. US. Written by Justice Kavanaugh. The vote is 6-3. Jackson dissents, joined by Sotomayor and Kagan.
Geidner:
The final SCOTUS decision today is Snyder v. US. Kavanaugh has the court's 6-3 decision on ideological grounds, holding that the Section 666 bribery statute does not apply to "gratuities" given for public officials' *past* acts. Jackson writes the liberals' dissent.
@GottaLaff
It sounds like the #Republican puppets controlling #SCOTUS just legalized bribery as long as the payments are made post action.
So we can expect #RepublicanSCOTUS to begin accepting those vacations, flights, gifts, motorhomes, real estate deals, forgiven loans, and yachts only after they find for their benefactors’ cases.
At least it might speed up SCOTUS?
@bigheadtales no, that's the opposite of what SCOTUS ruled.
They emphasized that bribery is illegal, but Congress passed a law in 1986 that broke gratuities out from bribery.
The ruling goes out of its way to recognize the 15 year maximum sentence for bribery under the law.
@volkris @GottaLaff Thanks for giving us the Newsmax take.
The #Republican puppets on #SCOTUS ruled that bribery is fine as long as it's delivered post action. Like, for example, the #GOP Justices finding in favor of a billionaire Nazi and only afterward receiving a valuable gratuity like, say, a motorhome or a highly profitable real estate deal.
@bigheadtales I linked to the Supreme Court take on what the Supreme Court said.
And according to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court said the opposite of what you're quoting here.
I don't know who you're listening to, but they're telling you wrong as you can read for yourself directly from the Court.
@volkris @GottaLaff "Although a gratuity or reward offered and accepted by a state or local official after the official act may be unethical or illegal under other federal, state, or local laws, the gratuity does not violate §666. Pp. 14–16."
@bigheadtales yep, now read the part about bribery, since that's what you were talking about:
"Importantly, because bribery can corrupt the official act, Congress treats bribery as a far more serious offense than gratuities. For example, if a federal official accepts a bribe, federal bribery law provides for a 15-year maximum prison sentence."
Not only does the SCOTUS insist that bribery is a crime, but bribery being a particularly significant crime was core to their ruling.
They ruled that in part BECAUSE bribery is criminal, the 1986 revisions to the law take that into account.
@volkris @GottaLaff So as long as the bribery happens post action, it's OK now.
@bigheadtales again, not what the Court said as the opinion went through the system set up specifically because bribery is NOT ok.
The law has been on the books for decades. If Congress believes they got the law wrong before and it needs to include stricter federal oversight, it's up to the democratic process to sort that out, not the courts.
@bigheadtales No, they didn't cut down that law, and this is critical to understand.
Wrong branch of government.
*Congress* cut down the law decades ago, and if it needs to be put back up the Congress can act again to reverse its lawmaking.
You're not framing what the law actually says. Here's a link to it.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/666
So, since the law that Congress passed doesn't apply to the situation before the Court, the Court didn't strike down that which wasn't in the law at all.
@volkris @GottaLaff
You should read Jackson’s dissent. It explains the conflict quite clearly.
@bigheadtales of course I did read the dissent, but the dissent isn't what the Court said.
What the Court said is in the majority opinion that the Court accepted, not in the dissent that didn't carry the day.
Jackson's dissent got a bunch wrong, which is why it didn't become the position of the Court. But either way, it was rejected as the position of the Court, and if we want to know what the Court said, that's the wrong place to look.
@volkris @GottaLaff
Based upon this ruling, bribery is still illegal. Bribery as in “I will give you this of you do that”.
They have struck down the law that makes it illegal if the recompense is a given after the favor. "Thank you for dong that, here’s a motorhome”.
This is the first cut, just wait.