Supreme Court weighs 'Bridgegate' -- with Christie in the front row
Source: Politico
WASHINGTON — Most of the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court expressed skepticism Tuesday about the federal government’s case in the infamous “Bridgegate” scandal, several of them peppering a Justice Department lawyer with questions as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie watched from the front row.
A number of the justices, weighing some dense legal issues that surround the convictions of two former Christie allies, seemed to find merit in the defendants‘ arguments that they did not defraud the government of its “property” by closing off two local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge.
“I don’t see how this case works,” Justice Stephen Breyer, a member of the court’s liberal wing, said at one point during the hourlong hearing. Breyer said that what happened was bad — and maybe even a crime — but doubted the statutes involved in the case were properly applied.
Other liberal and conservative justices also seemed to struggle with the arguments made by the Justice Department, whose defense of the case rested on the idea that no one involved in the political retribution scheme had the “authority” to realign the lanes at the bridge. Because they didn’t have the authority, the government said, the defendants lied — they claimed to be doing a “traffic study” — in order to take control of the costly resources needed to execute their political punishment scheme.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2020/01/14/supreme-court-weighs-bridgegate-with-christie-in-the-front-row-1251234
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