WASHINGTON, D.C. — The chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee introduced a bill today to resuscitate an anti-corruption law used to convict several New Jersey politicians before being gutted earlier this year by the Supreme Court. The theft-of-honest-services statute was long heralded by prosecutors as an expandable weapon against public and corporate officials who found creative ways to...
A bill being proposed to the U.S. Senate would reinstate a law used to bring down former N.J. Senator Wayne Bryant, pictured above in a file photo.WASHINGTON, D.C. — The chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee introduced a bill today to resuscitate an anti-corruption law used to convict several New Jersey politicians before being gutted earlier this year by the Supreme Court.
The theft-of-honest-services statute was long heralded by prosecutors as an expandable weapon against public and corporate officials who found creative ways to abuse their positions without accepting cash bribes. In New Jersey, it was used to convict former New Jersey state Sen. Wayne Bryant.
Sen. Patrick Leahy said it was critical to equip prosecutors with the flexibility they lost in June when the Supreme Court significantly limited the scope of the theft-of-honest-services statute.
“We cannot let corrupt or fraudulent conduct go unchecked,” said Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont.
But the Supreme Court ruled the law — which essentially said politicians must act in the public's best interest — was unconstitutionally vague. The justices limited the statute to crimes involving bribes and kickbacks.
Prosecutors said the decision removed a potent and adaptable corruption-fighting tool. Leahy introduced his bill after a Justice Department official testified before Senate Judiciary Committee, urging lawmakers to fix the statute.
"The court’s decision has created a gap in our ability to address the full range of fraudulent and corrupt conduct by public officials and corporate executives," said Lanny A. Breuer, an assistant attorney general.
Leahy's bill would bar officials from secretly acting in their own financial self-interest at the expense of the public or the company for which they work.