Supreme Court to Hear Former Indiana Mayor’s Bribery Appeal

The Supreme Court agreed on Dec. 13 to take up the appeal of James Snyder, the former mayor of an Indiana town who was convicted of bribery.

The case comes as the court has been raising the bar in public corruption prosecutions in recent years. The court has been willing to overturn corruption convictions that involve public officials doing things that some think of as normal political activities.

In 2016, the Supreme Court reversed the conviction of the former Republican governor of Virginia, Bob McConnell, for taking gifts from a benefactor without actually taking action to benefit that person.

In 2020, the court overturned the convictions of two former political operatives who as allies of the then-Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, orchestrated the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal—the “Bridgegate” traffic-congestion scandal of 2013. The operatives altered the traffic pattern on the George Washington Bridge to pay back the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, for not supporting Mr. Christie's reelection campaign.

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