Constitutional Law,
U.S. Supreme Court
Sep. 19, 2016
Unanimously wrong
The Supreme Court's decision in McDonnell v. United States will make it much harder for the government to prosecute and convict those who misuse their official power for their personal gain.
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
On Friday, Sept. 8, federal prosecutors announced that they were dropping charges against former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell in light of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning his conviction at the end of June. In McDonnell v. United States, 2016 DJDAR 6444 (June 27, 2016), the Supreme Court redefined what is misconduct by elected officials sufficient to violate federal law and made it far more difficult to prosecute and convict government corruption. From the earliest days of law ...
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