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High Court Tosses Bridgegate Convictions
Updated May 8, 2020
Update: On May 7, 2020, a unanimous Supreme Court threw out the federal fraud convictions of two
former New Jersey officials whose politically motivated scheme redirected access to toll lanes on the
George Washington Bridge between New Jersey and New York leading to gridlock. The federal fraud
statutes at issue condemn schemes to obtain money or property. The High Court concluded that the
property envisioned does not include a governmental entity's interest in the regulatory allocation of its
resources, such as access to lanes on its toll bridges; nor does it include the value of the services ofpublic
employees whose efforts are incidental to implementing such a regulatory choice. As the Supreme Court
reasoned, ft]o rule otherwise would undercut [the] Court's oft-repeated instruction: Federal
prosecutors may not use property fraud statutes to set[] standards of disclosure and good government for
local and state officials.
The original post from July 12, 2019, is below.
Introduction
The U.S. Supreme Court has agrced to review Bridgegate, the case in which two former New Jersey
officials were convicted of fraud after, for political reasons, they redirected traffic leading to the George
Washington Bridge. The defendants in the case, Kelly v. US., argue that the lower court opinion conflicts
with other appellate court decisions and is at odds with the Supreme Court's colidenauon of the us[e]
of vague federal criminal laws to impose 'standards of ... good government' on 'local and state
officials.'
Background
One of the defendants, Bridget Kelly, served as a member of the New Jersey governor's staff, the other,
William Baroni, as the Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The
Port Authority operates the George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey and New York. By
long standing political agreement, access to three of the bridge's twelve toll booths that guard entrance to
the bridge's twelve lanes is reserved to local traffic from Fort Lee, New Jersey. The defendants ordered
the number of the toll booths dedicated to Fort Lee reduced from three to one and the number of toll
booths available to the main line increased from nine to eleven, ostensibly in conjunction with a traffic
survey, but in reality as an act of political retribution directed against the Mayor of Fort Lee. Traffic flow
in the main line improved. Traffic at the Fort Lee toll booth, however, backed up and gridlock in Fort Lee
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
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