Courthouse News Service: Disgraced Governor Walks as SCOTUS Loosens Bribery Law
Experts at the Campaign Legal Center and the Brennan Center for Justice both expected a mixed decision, and opined that the majority opinion's lead author would help determine the breadth of the blow to prosecutors. Few expected unanimity from a court with a longstanding partisan divide.
The Campaign Legal Center's deputy executive director Tara Malloy countered that the court's ruling would corrode democracy in a different way.
"Today's ruling makes it even more difficult to protect our democracy from attempts by officeholders to peddle political access and influence to the highest bidder," Malloy said in a statement. "This entire case could have been avoided if Virginia had taken the necessary and vital steps to prohibit the receipt of huge gifts from people who have business before the government."