Unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling "limits the ability of federal prosecutors to pursue corruption cases"

In a 9-0 vote, U.S. Supreme Court justices let Joseph Percoco, a former Andrew Cuomo aide convicted of accepting bribes, off the hook, at least for one of his crimes. The ruling "further limits the ability of federal prosecutors to pursue corruption cases," writes Reuters.

Percoco was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to six years in prison for seeking $315,000 in bribes in exchange for helping two corporate clients of Albany lobbyist Todd Howe seeking state benefits and business. … Percoco was convicted alongside an executive at a real estate developer, Steven Aiello, who prosecutors said orchestrated bribes to Percoco. Howe pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators. Prosecutors said Percoco referred to the payments as "ziti," a type of pasta that became a term for money by characters in "The Sopranos" mobster TV series.

Thursday's ruling represented the latest in recent years in which the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has limited prosecutors in political corruption cases. In 2020, it overturned the convictions of two aides to Republican former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the "Bridgegate" political scandal. In 2016, it threw out Republican former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell's bribery conviction.

As far as well-timed fights go, the Supreme Court sure picked this one! Percoco was inside the revolving door, on leave from a government job he expected to return to so he could help run Cuomo's re-election campaign. The "ziti" was therefore a gift to a private individual, not corruption of a government official. You can be as disgusted as you like, and then you can go fuck yourself.