A few weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously threw out the convictions of Bridget Ann Kelly and Bill Baroni—the two Chris Christie operatives central to the notorious “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” scheme that became known as “Bridgegate.”
Justice Elena Kagan said the kinds of decisions Kelly and Baroni made—and the story they concocted to add credibility to the scheme—could not be prosecuted under federal law. Justice Kagan stated that “[i]f U.S. Attorneys could prosecute as property fraud every lie a state or local official tells in making such a decision, the result would be … ‘a sweeping expansion of federal criminal jurisdiction.’” Justice Kagan further wrote. “In effect, the Federal Government could use the criminal law to enforce (its view of) integrity in broad swaths of state and local policymaking. The property fraud statutes do not countenance that outcome.”
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