Supreme Court: Bribes, not gifts, will get you busted

A Supreme Court decision Tuesday made it harder for lobbyists and others to be convicted of giving illegal gratuities to federal officials.

A gift to a federal official must be linked to a specific federal act, so that it is in effect a bribe, in order for it to be illegal, the court ruled. The decision offered a narrow interpretation of the federal gratuity statute, rejecting a legal theory that simply providing gifts to a public official is improper.

The decision stems from a case involving former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. In United States v. Sun-Diamond Growers of California (98-131), an independent counsel charged Sun-Diamond, a family of fruit and nut cooperatives, with providing illegal gratuities to Espy. Espy, in turn, was investigated on 30 charges of corruption.

Sun-Diamond's lobbyist gave Espy about $9,000 worth of gifts in food, sports tickets, luggage and travel at a time when two decisions critical to the organization were pending before USDA.

Sun-Diamond was convicted on eight felony counts, but an appellate court struck down the illegal gratuities charge. Under the federal gratuity statute, the court ruled, the government must establish that an official received a gift "for or because of any official act."

The high court ruled against the independent counsel's office, which asked for a reinstatement of the illegal gratuities conviction. If simply giving a gift to someone because of their official position were illegal, then sports teams that give replica jerseys to the President during ceremonial visits to the White House could be convicted, the Supreme Court noted.

Espy was acquitted of all charges last December. Sun-Diamond is currently under a 3-year suspension from selling to the federal government. The suspension is due to expire in December.