Supreme Court bats away bribery appeal from former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin
CNN
The Supreme Court declined Monday to review federal bribery charges against former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, a Democrat who resigned two years ago after prosecutors said he sought campaign contributions in exchange for a state grant.
The Supreme Court declined Monday to review federal bribery charges against former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, a Democrat who resigned two years ago after prosecutors said he sought campaign contributions in exchange for a state grant. Benjamin, a former state lawmaker, told the high court that prosecutors embarked on an “extreme” overreach by connecting his request to a local real estate developer for campaign cash with his decision to secure a $50,000 state grant for that developer’s nonprofit group. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Benjamin to the post when she took over the state’s top job from Andrew Cuomo following his resignation in 2021. Benjamin resigned in 2022 after being arrested and indicted on the bribery charges. His appeal arrived at the Supreme Court at a time when it has been significantly weakening the ability of federal prosecutors to bring charges under anti-corruption laws. The court earlier this year sided with a former mayor in Indiana convicted of accepting $13,000 from a trucking company weeks after it was awarded a contract. In that case, the court’s six conservative justices ruled federal bribery prohibitions don’t apply to “gratuities.” “Time and again, this court has intervened when government overreach threatens to chill political activity that is core to our democracy and protected by the First Amendment,” Benjamin’s lawyers told the high court. “This case presents an extreme example of that overreach.”
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