Elisha Kobre Quoted in Bloomberg Law on SCOTUS Review of ‘Go-To’ Corruption Tool
April, 2024 - Birmingham, Alabama
Bradley partner Elisha Kobre was quoted in Bloomberg Law regarding an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to potentially limit the federal programs bribery statute long used by prosecutors to target local corruption.
Limiting the statute to quid pro quo bribery – that is bribery paid pursuant to a tit-for-tat agreement – could have major implications for public corruption enforcement, Kobre explained.
“As a prosecutor, it was one of the first statutes we would look to because of its breadth,” Kobre said.
The statute, 18 U.S.C. § 666, has been useful for prosecutors as the Supreme Court has narrowed other anti-corruption statutes repeatedly. It’s considered more difficult to prove a quid pro quo than a gratuity, added Kobre.
“And even if many gratuity cases could be recast as bribery cases, some will be off the Section 666 table,” he said.
The full article, “Federal Tool Against Local Corruption Faces Supreme Court Test,” was published by Bloomberg Law on April 13, 2024.
