The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the case involving Bridget Kelly and William Baroni, who worked for Christie.
The Supreme Court on Thursday reversed the convictions of two former aides to ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in a case stemming from the 2013 scheme to close lanes to the George Washington Bridge to punish a political opponent, a saga that came to be known as „Bridgegate.“
The court ruled unanimously in the case involving Bridget Kelly and William Baroni, who were convicted by a jury in 2016 on federal charges of fraud and conspiracy. Justice Elena Kagan delivered the opinion for the court, which held that because the lane closure scheme didn’t aim to obtain money or property, Baroni and Kelly couldn’t have violated federal fraud laws.
„For no reason other than political payback, Baroni and Kelly used deception to reduce Fort Lee’s access lanes to the George Washington Bridge — and thereby jeopardized the safety of the town’s residents. But not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime,“ Kagan wrote. „Because the scheme here did not aim to obtain money or property, Baroni and Kelly could not have violated the federal-program fraud or wire fraud laws.
