Supreme Court Justices Compare Bribes to Taking a Teacher to Cheesecake Factory
Source: Rolling Stone
Supreme Court Justices Compare Bribes to Taking a Teacher to Cheesecake Factory
Charisma Madarang
Mon, April 15, 2024 at 9:09 PM EDT·4 min read
The Supreme Court, amid an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy pertaining to unreported gifts to justices, debated on Monday whether a contractor making a $13,000 gratuity to a politician is similar to taking a teacher to the Cheesecake Factory.
In 2012, James Synder was elected mayor of the Northwest Indiana town of just under 38,000 people. Synder, who was struggling to keep his own business afloat and was behind on taxes, oversaw the bidding process for a contract to buy new garbage trucks for the town. The contract, which was worth over $1.1 million, went to a local company, and the final round of papers were inked. One month later in January 2014, the trucking company, Great Lakes Peterbilt, sent Snyder $13,000 for what he later claimed were consulting services.
In 2019, Synder found his second term cut prematurely when a federal jury convicted of him of bribery. Although he appealed and was granted a new trial, the former mayor was convicted again in March 2021 and sentenced to 21 months in prison.
The case found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to review an appeals court decision affirming the 2021 conviction of the former mayor of Portage — transforming the small-time corruption case into a national issue that has the potential to legalize corporations rewarding public officials in exchange for lucrative government favors.
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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-justices-compare-bribes-010938165.html
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