‘ComEd Four’ Will Seek to Have Convictions Tossed After Supreme Court Bribery Ruling – WTTW (Chicago)

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court redefined the federal bribery statute after it reversed a lower court’s opinion in an appeal filed by a former Indiana mayor who’d been convicted of bribery after he accepted $13,000 from a local towing company after steering a city garbage truck contract to that business. The court’s ruling means the federal statute will still criminalize quid pro quo bribery, but won’t extend to cover gratuities — which are payments made in recognition of actions a state or local official has already taken or has committed to take, without any quid pro quo agreement in place.