Supreme Court won’t hear ex-New York lieutenant governor’s appeal in bribery case

The Supreme Court will not consider throwing out bribery charges against New York’s former lieutenant governor, allowing his case to move forward.

Ex-New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin (D) was in 2022 charged with five counts, including bribery and honest services wire fraud. Prosecutors said he worked to direct a $50,000 state-funded grant to a real estate developer’s organization in exchange for campaign contributions.

A federal judge dismissed three of the five counts after finding that Benjamin’s indictment failed to allege an “explicit quid pro quo,” but a panel of three appellate judges revived those charges after reaching the opposite conclusion.

Benjamin asked the justices to affirm the trial court’s ruling, contending that prosecutors sought to “elide the distinction” between bribery and democracy by casting contributions to a candidate aligned with a constituent’s interests as evidence of improper influence.

“Time and again, this Court has intervened when government overreach threatens to chill political activity that is core to our democracy and protected by the First Amendment,” read Benjamin's petition to the justices. “This case presents an extreme example of that overreach, in an area of law that demands clarity yet has become perilously muddled.”

The government said that since Benjamin’s case is ongoing, the justices should deny his petition, in addition to the fact that the high court has “repeatedly denied” other cases presenting the same issue.

“It should do the same here,” wrote U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar.

The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case comes despite its ruling this summer narrowing the scope of what can be considered an illegal gratuity to a government official, which made it tougher to prosecute federal officials for accepting bribes.

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