George Washington Bridge. Shutterstock

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the criminal convictions of two aides to former Gov. Chris Christie for their role in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal known as Bridgegate.

In reversing the convictions of Bridget Kelly and co-defendant William Baroni Jr., the court said in a unanimous ruling written by Justice Elena Kagan that they could not have violated two federal fraud laws because their scheme did not seek to obtain money or property.

The ruling means that Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff for Christie, won't have to serve the 13-month sentence imposed for her role in the affair. Baroni served three months of his 18-month sentence before he was released on bail in July 2019.

"As Kelly's own lawyer acknowledged, this case involves an 'abuse of power,'" Kagan wrote. "For no reason other than political payback, Baroni and Kelly used deception to reduce Fort Lee's access lanes to the George Washington Bridge—and thereby jeopardized the safety of the town's residents. But not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime. Because the scheme here did not aim to obtain money or property, Baroni and Kelly could not have violated the federal-program fraud or wire fraud laws."

The justices rejected the government's theory that Kelly and Baroni sought to commandeer the bridge itself by taking control of its lanes, and that their actions deprived the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey of the costs of compensating traffic engineers and toll collectors in connection with their lane closure scheme.

The court said the lane realignment was an exercise of regulatory power, which fails to meet the statute's property requirement. And the employees' labor was just the incidental cost of that regulation, rather than itself an object of the officials' scheme, the court said.

Observers had predicted the conviction could be overturned because of a series of recent rulings in which the court limited the federal government's power to prosecute political corruption.

"Between this decision and McDonnell [v. United States, a 2016 Supreme Court ruling vacating a corruption conviction for former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell], it is apparent that the current legal regime is insufficient to meet the societal problem of public corruption. The problem of corruption will only worsen until federal and state legislators take action," said Harry Sandick, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York who is now with Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler and has been following the Bridgegate appeal closely.

The ruling means fewer tools are available to federal prosecutors to rein in corruption and abuse of power by public officials, said Ilene Jaroslaw, head of the white-collar group at Phillips Nizer and a former prosecutor in the Eastern District of New York.

"The court held today that public officials cannot be guilty of federal wire fraud or government-programs fraud unless the corrupt state actor's objective is to obtain money or property.  Merely implementing bad policy out of venality or other bad motives does not violate these federal criminal statutes," Jaroslaw said.

Another observer said the mere act of ruling unanimously was "a tremendous feat" for the justices. "But doing so in order to prevent a gross prosecutorial overreach and the government's effort to turn a criminal statute upside down and inside out to secure a conviction in a politically charged prosecution is a tremendous victory for individual rights," said Matthew Adams, co-chairman of the white-collar criminal defense group at Fox Rothschild.

Kelly and Baroni were convicted on all counts following a two-month trial before U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in November 2016. In November 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a majority of the counts in the conviction but threw out a conviction for violating the civil rights of travelers.

Kelly was represented at the Supreme Court by Yaakov Roth of Jones Day, with Roseland, New Jersey, attorney Michael Critchley as co-counsel. Baroni's lawyer was Michael Levy of Sidley Austin.

Critchley, who also represented Kelly at trial and at the Third Circuit, said the Supreme Court's ruling confirms his longtime argument that the case was "an indictment in search of a crime." He said he was "thrilled that Bridget can finally put this nightmare behind her and hopefully enjoy some sense of peace."

Baroni, an attorney, was disbarred after his conviction. Levy said that "although the process of getting to this day has been an ordeal, Bill is heartened that the system ultimately worked, even as he recognizes how often it fails others who are less fortunate. At long last, Bill looks forward to moving on from this case and continuing his life of service."

The Department of Justice declined to comment.

The case stems from four days of traffic gridlock in Fort Lee in September 2013, when the number of local lanes to the George Washington Bridge during the morning rush hour was reduced from three to one. Kelly, Baroni and David Wildstein, director of interstate capital projects at the Port Authority, were later found to have arranged the lane closures as payback to the mayor of Fort Lee for refusing to endorse Christie's gubernatorial reelection campaign. They falsely claimed the lane closures were made as part of a traffic study.

While planning the lane closures, Kelly was later found to have sent an email to Wildstein reading, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," to which he replied, "Got it."

Christie, once a star of the Republican Party with presidential aspirations, saw his political fortunes crumble after the scandal. He insisted he had no advance knowledge of the lane closure plan, but testimony during the trial for Kelly and Baroni suggested otherwise.

Paul Fishman, who was then the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, launched an investigation that led to criminal prosecutions of Kelly and Baroni after Wildstein pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy under a plea agreement. He was later sentenced to probation.

Kelly and Baroni were initially sentenced to 18 and 24 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in the case, far less than the 37 to 46 months sought by prosecutors. Their sentences were reduced to 13 months for Kelly and 18 for Baroni following the Third Circuit ruling. Kelly's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to hear the case, and the court agreed in June 2019 to hear the case. Oral argument was held in January.

Read the ruling: