The Supreme Court overturned federal fraud convictions of two aides to then-Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, ruling Thursday that their move to punish a local mayor by causing a traffic jam for his constituents wasn’t fraud because they didn’t earn any money or property from their actions.
The ruling was unanimous, and it’s the latest in a string of decisions by the court pushing back on corruption and fraud cases involving political figures.
In this case the justices ruled that the federal government wasn’t defrauded of money or property when Mr. Christie’s aides — including Deputy Chief of Staff Anne Kelly and Port Authority Deputy Director William Baroni — shut down access to lanes across the George Washington Bridge in 2013, causing four days of gridlock.
The court said that was a regulatory move that state officials had the power to make, and it does not amount to taking government property.
Justice Elena Kagan said the move was an “abuse of power.”
“But not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime,” she wrote in the court’s opinion. “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.”
Along with David Wildstein, another Port Authority official, Ms. Kelly and Mr. Baroni closed the lanes to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, who had refused to back Mr. Christie for reelection in 2013.
Mr. Wildstein pleaded guilty to conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
A federal jury then found Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly guilty of fraud, and the convictions were upheld by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The scandal captivated the political world in 2013 and 2014.
Mr. Christie, then seen as a leading option for the GOP in the 2016 presidential race, initially denied any knowledge of the punitive closures and then said he had been duped by his aides.
The governor was never charged by either state or federal prosecutors, but the scandal did dent his political standing.
Justice Kagan, in her opinion for the high court, said Thursday that Mr. Christie’s aides “often” used the Port Authority’s resources for political means, trying to encourage local officials to back Mr. Christie.
In September 2013, after the Fort Lee mayor refused to back the governor for reelection, the aides shut down several of Fort Lee’s dedicated lanes onto the George Washington Bridge, claiming it was part of a traffic study.
But Justice Kagan said the high court has long held that regulatory decisions — in this case, allocating lanes to traffic — don’t amount to self-dealing, even if they are wrong-headed or done for base political motives.
Mr. Christie said the ruling meant “justice has finally been done,” and that the prosecution never should have been brought by the Obama administration’s Justice Department, which he accused of “inventing a federal crime.”
“What cannot be undone is the damage that was visited upon all of the people dragged through the mud who had nothing to do with this incident,” he said.
Beltway ethics watchdogs complained bitterly over the implications of the unanimous ruling.
“At a time when corruption risks are at an all-time high, the Supreme Court has once again weakened federal corruption laws,” Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, tweeted. “This is a trend, and the fact that the opinions are unanimous does not make them less dangerous.”
Mark E. Coyne, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, who now oversees the office that brought the case against the aides, was circumspect in his reaction.
“The Supreme Court’s decision speaks for itself, and we are bound by that decision,” he said. “Beyond that, we have no comment.”
The ruling is the latest in a string of cases that has narrowed federal prosecutors’ ability to pursue corruption cases.
Three years ago prosecutors failed to win a corruption case against Sen. Bob Menendez, also from New Jersey.
The Democrat had been accused of making calls and taking official actions on behalf of a wealthy friend, in exchange for plush vacations, but after a hung jury, prosecutors dropped the charges, saying their hands were tied by the legal playing field.
And in 2016 the Supreme Court overturned the conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, ruling that taking meetings with a financial backer didn’t constitute corruption.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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