Amicus Curiae Brief — Joseph Percoco, Petitioner v. United States, et al.
Supreme Court briefSep 7, 2022
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No. 21-1158
In the Supreme Court of the United States
_____________
JOSEPH PERCOCO,
Petitioner,
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
_____________
Respondent.
On Writ of Certiorari to the United States
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
_____________
BRIEF OF CITIZENS UNITED, CITIZENS
UNITED FOUNDATION, AND THE
PRESIDENTIAL COALITION AS AMICI
CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER
_____________
GARY M. LAWKOWSKI
MICHAEL BOOS
Counsel of Record
DANIEL H. JORJANI*
Supreme Court Bar No.
Citizens United
315998
Citizens United Foundation
Dhillon Law Group, Inc.
The Presidential Coalition
2121 Eisenhower Avenue,
1006 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.
Suite 402
Washington, D.C. 20003
Alexandria, VA 22314
Telephone: 202-547-5420
Telephone: 703-965-0330
MichaelBoos@CitizensUnited.org
GLawkowski@DhillonLaw.com DanielJorjani@CitizensUnited.org
*Application for Admission
Pending
Counsel for amici curiae Citizens United, Citizens
United Foundation, and The Presidential Coalition
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF INTEREST .................................... 1
INTRODUCTION ........................................................ 2
SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT ............................ 3
ARGUMENT ................................................................ 6
I. THE SECOND CIRCUIT’S INTERPRETATION IS NOT
COMPELLED BY THE STATUTE .................................... 6
II. THE SECOND CIRCUIT’S APPROACH RENDERS THE
STATUTE IMPERMISSIBLY VAGUE ............................... 9
A. The Federal Honest Services Statute Itself is
Vague and Has Only Been Saved by a Limiting
Construction ........................................................ 11
B. The Second Circuit’s Test Renders the Honest
Services Provision Impermissibly Vague ........... 13
i. Persons of Ordinary Intelligence have No
Fair Notice of What Facts Establish
“Domination and Control” of Government
Business ........................................................... 13
ii. People Outside of Government May Not
Know Whether Public Officials “Actually
Relied” on Them nor What Level of Reliance is
Suspect ............................................................. 14
iii. Persons of Ordinary Intelligence have No
Prior Notice of What Makes a Relationship
with a Public Official Sufficiently “Special” as
to be Suspect .................................................... 17
III. THE SECOND CIRCUIT’S TEST RAISES SERIOUS
FEDERALISM CONCERNS .......................................... 21
ii
IV. THE SECOND CIRCUIT’S TEST CRIMINALIZES AND
CHILLS PROTECTED FIRST AMENDMENT ACTIVITIES .. 24
V. PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION IS INSUFFICIENT TO
SAVE A VAGUE AND OVERBROAD INTERPRETATION .... 29
CONCLUSION .......................................................... 32
iii
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Cases
Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition,
553 U.S. 234 (2002) ............................................... 29
Baggett v. Bullitt,
377 U.S. 360 (1964) ............................................... 30
Black v. United States,
561 U.S. 465 (2010) ............................................... 12
Bond v. United States,
572 U.S. 844 (2014) ......................................... 19, 21
California Motor Transp. Co. v. Trucking Unlimited,
404 U.S. 508 (1972) ............................................... 26
Citizens United v. Fed. Election Comm’n,
558 U.S. 310 (2010) ........................... 1, 3, 25, 27, 28
Cleveland v. United States,
531 U.S. 12 (2000) ................................................. 21
Connally v. Gen. Constr. Co.,
269 U.S. 385 (1926) ........................................... 9, 10
Crowell v. Benson,
285 U.S. 22 (1932) ................................................... 5
Eastern R.R. Presidents Conf. v. Noerr Motor Freight,
Inc.,
365 U.S. 127 (1961) ............................................... 25
Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast
Bldg. and Constr. Trades Council,
485 U.S. 568 (1988) ............................................. 4, 5
Fed. Commc’ns Comm’n v. Fox Television Station,
567 U.S. 239 (2012) ........................................... 9, 10
iv
Fed. Election Comm’n v. Cruz,
142 S.Ct. 1638 (2022) ............................................ 27
Fed. Election Comm’n v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.,
551 U.S. 449 (2007) ................................... 27, 28, 29
Green v. United States,
365 U.S. 301 (1961) ................................................. 4
Gregory v. Ashcroft,
501 U.S. 452 (1991) ............................................... 21
Johnson v. United States,
576 U.S. 591 (2015) ......................................... 10, 14
Kelly v. United States,
140 S.Ct. 1565 (2020) ...................... 4, 12, 14, 24, 32
Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of
N.Y.,
385 U.S. 589 (1967) ............................................... 30
Kolender v. Lawson,
461 U.S. 352 (1983) ............................................... 10
McConnell v. Fed. Election Comm’n,
540 U.S. 93 (2003) ............................................. 3, 27
McDonnell v. United States,
579 U.S. 550 (2016) ..................................... 4, 12, 32
McNally v. United States,
483 U.S. 350 (1987) ............................. 7, 8, 9, 11, 24
Meyer v. Grant,
486 U.S. 414 (1988) ............................................... 26
National Ass’n for Advancement of Colored People v.
Button,
371 U.S. 415 (1963) ............................................... 27
v
Regan v. Taxation With Representation of
Washington,
461 U.S. 540 (1983) ............................................... 25
Sessions v. Dimaya,
138 S.Ct. 1204 (2018) ............................................ 10
Skilling v. United States,
561 U.S. 358 (2010) ................................... 11, 12, 20
Sorich v. United States,
129 S.Ct. 1308 (2009) .................................. 4, 11, 20
United Mine Workers of America v. Pennington,
381 U.S. 657 (1965) ............................................... 26
United Mine Workers of America, Dist. 12 v. Illinois
State Bar Ass’n,
389 U.S. 217 (1967) ............................................... 26
United States ex rel. Attorney General v. Delaware &
Hudson Co.,
213 U.S. 366 (1909) ................................................. 5
United States v. Bass,
404 U.S. 336 (1971) ............................................... 21
United States v. Brumley,
116 F.3d 728 (5th Cir. 1997) ................................... 9
United States v. Davis,
139 S.Ct. 2319 (2019) ............................................ 10
United States v. Harriss,
347 U.S. 612 (1954) ............................................... 25
United States v. Margiotta,
688 F.2d 108 (2d Cir. 1982)........................... passim
United States v. McClain,
934 F.2d 822 (7th Cir. 1991) ................................. 28
vi
United States v. Percoco,
13 F.4th 180 (2d Cir. 2021) ........................... passim
United States v. Rybicki,
354 F.3d 124 (2d Cir. 2003)..................................... 8
United States v. Stevens,
559 U.S. 460 (2010) ......................................... 29, 32
United States v. Wells,
519 U.S. 482 (1997) ............................................... 30
United States v. Wiltberger,
5 Wheat. 76 (1820) ................................................ 19
United States v. Williams,
553 U.S. 285 (2008) ............................................... 10
Virginia v. Hicks,
539 U.S. 113 (2003) ............................................... 28
Statutes
18 U.S.C. § 1346 .......................................................... 6
18 U.S.C. § 208 .......................................................... 17
IRC § 501 ..................................................................... 1
N.Y. Pub. Off. § 73 ............................................... 17, 22
Other Authorities
134 Cong. Rec. H11,108–01 (daily ed. Oct. 21, 1988).... 7
134 Cong. Rec. S17, 360–02 (daily ed. Nov. 10, 1988)... 7
Amici Curiae Brief of 77 Former State Attorneys
General (Non-Virginia) Supporting Petitioner
Robert McDonnell, McDonnell v. United States, No.
15-474 (Mar. 7, 2016) ....................................... 23, 24
vii
Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law:
The Interpretation of Legal Texts (2012) ................ 5
Brief for Members of the Virginia General Assembly
as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner,
McDonnell v. United States, No. 15-474 (Mar. 7,
2016) ....................................................................... 23
Brief for the United States in Opposition, Percoco v.
United States, No. 21-1158 (May 2022) ............ 3, 30
Brief of Citizens United and Citizens United
Foundation as Amici Curiae in Support of
Respondent, Securities and Exchange Commission
v. Cochran, No. 21-1239 (U.S. Jul. 7, 2022) ............ 1
Brief of Citizens United, Citizens United Foundation,
and The Presidential Coalition as Amici Curiae in
Support of Appellants and Petitioners, Merrill, et
al. v. Milligan, et al., Nos. 21-1086, 21-1087, 2022
WL 1432037 (U.S. May 2, 2022) .............................. 1
Department of Justice, Office of Professional
Responsibly, Investigation of Allegations of
Prosecutorial Misconduct in United States v.
Theodore F. Stevens, Crim. No. 08-231 (D.D.C.
2009) (ESG) (Aug. 15, 2011) ............................ 30, 31
FBI Inspection Division, 2019 Domestic
Investigations and Operations Guide Audit
10/21/2019 – 11/01/2019 (Jan. 10, 2020) ........... 31
Letter from Chairman Dick Durbin and Ranking
Member Charles Grassley to Inspector General
Michael Horowitz (Mar. 28, 2022) ......................... 31
viii
Nicholas W. Allard, Lobbying is an Honorable
Profession: The Right to Petition and the
Competition to be Right, 19 Stan. L. & Pol’y Rev. 23
(2008) ...................................................................... 15
Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, Percoco v. United
States, No. 21-1158 (U.S. Feb. 2022) ................... 2, 3
Political Action and Party Committees, Federal
Election Commission (Accessed July 15, 2022)..... 18
Report of the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse
and Control, The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988: A
Guide to Programs for State and Local Anti-Drug
Assistance, H. Rep. 101-74 (1989) ........................... 7
Rob O’Dell and Nick Penzenstadler, You Elected
Them to Write New Laws. They’re Letting
Corporations Do It Instead, Center for Public
Integrity (Apr. 4, 2019) .......................................... 16
T.W. Farnam, Study Shows Revolving Door of
Employment Between Congress, Lobbying Firms,
The Washington Post (Sept. 13, 2011) .................. 19
United States v. Percoco,
No. 16 CR 776 (VEC) (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 1, 2018)
(Appendix J at 142a) .............................................. 28
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 2, sc. 2
................................................................................. 29
Regulations
5 C.F.R. § 26.35.502 ................................................... 18
Constitutional Provisions
U.S. Const., amend. 1 ................................................ 24
U.S. Const., amend. V ................................................. 9
1
STATEMENT OF INTEREST 1
Citizens
United
and
Citizens
United
Foundation are dedicated to restoring government to
the people through a commitment to limited
government, federalism, individual liberty, and free
enterprise. Citizens United and Citizens United
Foundation regularly participate as litigants (e.g.,
Citizens United v. Fed. Election Comm’n, 558 U.S. 310
(2010)) and amici in important cases in which these
fundamental principles are at stake (See, e.g., Brief of
Citizens United and Citizens United Foundation as
Amici Curiae in Support of Respondent, Securities and
Exchange Commission v. Cochran, No. 21-1239 (U.S.
Jul. 7, 2022); Brief of Citizens United, Citizens United
Foundation, and The Presidential Coalition as Amici
Curiae in Support of Appellants and Petitioners,
Merrill, et al. v. Milligan, et al., Nos. 21-1086, 21-1087,
2022 WL 1432037 (U.S. May 2, 2022)).
Citizens United is a nonprofit social welfare
organization exempt from federal income tax under
Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) section 501(c)(4).
Citizens United Foundation is a nonprofit educational
and legal organization exempt from federal income tax
under IRC section 501(c)(3). These organizations were
established to, among other things, participate in the
public policy process, including conducting research,
1 No party’s counsel authored this brief in whole or in part. No
party’s counsel or party contributed money that was intended to
fund preparing or submitting this brief. No person other than
amici curiae, its members, or its counsel contributed money that
was intended to fund preparing or submitting this brief. The
parties have provided written consent to the filing of the brief.
2
and informing and educating the public on the proper
construction of state and federal constitutions, as well
as statutes related to the rights of citizens, and
questions related to human and civil rights secured by
law.
The Presidential Coalition, LLC is an IRC
section 527 political organization founded to educate
the American public on the value of having principled
leadership at all levels of government.
It is hardly a secret that amici are not aligned
on policy or allied politically with former Governor
Andrew Cuomo or his campaigns. Amici write in
support of Governor Cuomo’s former campaign
manager because the rule of law requires applying the
law fairly to both your friends and your adversaries,
and amici support the rule of law.
INTRODUCTION
This case is about the continued criminalization
of politics.
The Petitioner in this case held no formal
government position at the time of the alleged
conduct, nor was his conviction dependent upon either
his previous role in government or any anticipated
return to government. Instead, he “was a longtime
friend of the Cuomo family” who previously served in
government “as Executive Deputy Secretary in the
Governor’s Office” and who was then serving as
campaign manager to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s
reelection campaign. Petition for a Writ of Certiorari,
3
at 5, Percoco v. United States, No. 21-1158 (U.S. Feb.
2022); see also Brief for the United States in
Opposition, at 4, Percoco v. United States, No. 21-1158
(May 2022). He was convicted, and the court upheld
his conviction, on a theory that any private citizens
who are “relied on by the government and who in fact
control some aspect of government business” owe the
same fiduciary duty to the government as public
officials. United States v. Percoco, 13 F.4th 180, 195
(2d Cir. 2021).
This theory has the potential to impose criminal
liability on any politically active citizen who federal
prosecutors believe is too effective, disregards the
ability of States to set ethical standards for their own
government officials, provides little concrete notice to
citizens of where the line between legal and illegal
conduct lies, and risks chilling and criminalizing,
protected First Amendment activity. Accordingly, the
ruling below should be reversed.
SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT
The Court has made clear “[r]eliance on a
‘generic favoritism or influence theory . . . is at odds
with standard First Amendment analysis because it is
unbounded and susceptible to no limiting principle.’”
Citizens United, 558 U.S. at 359 (quoting McConnell
v. Fed. Election Comm’n, 540 U.S. 93, 296 (2003)
(Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment in part and
dissenting in part). Notwithstanding its protestations
to the contrary, this is precisely the theory that the
Second Circuit has brought to bear for honest services
cases: that ordinary politics or lobbying becomes a
4
federal crime when a private citizen becomes too
influential or effective.
Similar to the conduct underlying prior honest
services prosecutions that have been either
overturned or called into question by this Court or
some of its justices, the Petitioner’s actions in this
matter hardly constitute the Platonic form of ethical
conduct. But that is not the issue before the Court.
“There is no doubt this case is distasteful; it may be
worse than that. But our concern is not with tawdry
tales . . . . It is instead with the broader legal
implications of the Government’s boundless
interpretation” of federal law. McDonnell v. United
States, 579 U.S. 550, 580-81 (2016). “‘Bad men, like
good men, are entitled to be tried and sentenced in
accordance with the law.’” Sorich v. United States, 129
S.Ct. 1308, 1311 (2009) (Scalia, J., dissenting from a
denial of certiorari) (quoting Green v. United States,
365 U.S. 301, 309 (1961) (Black, J., dissenting)); see
also Kelly v. United States, 140 S.Ct. 1565, 1574 (2020)
(“[N]ot every corrupt act by state or local officials is a
federal crime.”).
Here, the Second Circuit’s
interpretation of honest services does not comport
with the law.
It is a “cardinal principle” that “has for so long
been applied by this Court that it is beyond debate”
that “where an otherwise acceptable construction of a
statute would raise serious constitutional problems,
the Courts will construe the statute to avoid such
problems unless such construction is plainly contrary
to the intent of Congress.” Edward J. DeBartolo Corp.
v. Florida Gulf Coast Bldg. and Constr. Trades
5
Council, 485 U.S. 568, 575 (1988); see also generally
United States ex rel. Attorney General v. Delaware &
Hudson Co., 213 U.S. 366, 408 (1909) (“[W]here a
statute is susceptible of two constructions, by one of
which grave and doubtful constitutional questions
arise and by the other of which such questions are
avoided, our duty is to adopt the latter.”).
Importantly,
this
canon
of
statutory
construction “militates against not only those
interpretations that would render the statute
unconstitutional but also those that would even raise
serious questions of constitutionality.” Antonin Scalia
& Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation
of Legal Texts 247-48 (2012) (citing Crowell v. Benson,
285 U.S. 22, 62 (1932) (“When the validity of an act of
the Congress is drawn in question, and even if a
serious doubt of constitutionality is raised, it is a
cardinal principle that this Court will first ascertain
whether a construction of the statute is fairly possible
by which the question may be avoided.”).
The Second Circuit’s approach to honest
services disregards this “cardinal principle” and
invites grave constitutional doubt. First, the Second
Circuit’s test for who owes a fiduciary duty is not
compelled by the text of the statute. Second, the
Second Circuit’s test is impermissibly vague, leaving
persons of ordinary intelligence to guess at what it
means to “dominate and control” governmental
business, whether they are “actually relied upon” by
officeholders (or just humored by politicians seeking to
ingratiate themselves with potential supporters), and
what qualifies as “some special relationship.” Third,
6
it violates principles of federalism by substituting the
judgment of federal prosecutors for the judgment of
the people of the State. Fourth, the Second Circuit’s
test is impermissibly broad, thereby criminalizing
protected First Amendment activities.
Finally,
consistent with the Court’s precedent, these defects
cannot be cured by the judicious exercise of
prosecutorial discretion, nor has the government’s
past approach to public integrity prosecutions
demonstrated the level of humility necessary to do so.
In order to prevent grave constitutional doubts,
the application of the honest services provision, 18
U.S.C. § 1346, should be limited to people who exercise
formal authority. Accordingly, the judgment of the
court below should be reversed, and this case should
be remanded to the lower court for proceedings
consistent with a proper reading of the statute.
ARGUMENT
I.
The Second Circuit’s Interpretation is
Not Compelled by the Statute
The federal “honest services” statute reads, in
its entirety, “[f]or purposes of this chapter [Mail Fraud
and Other Fraud Offenses], the term ‘scheme or
artifice to defraud’ includes a scheme or artifice to
deprive another of the intangible right of honest
services.” 18 U.S.C. § 1346. There is nothing in the
text that explicitly requires, or even suggests, that the
courts must adopt something akin to the Second
Circuit’s test.
7
To the contrary, the surrounding circumstances
and legislative history make clear that the purpose of
section 1346 was narrow, reversing the Supreme
Court’s decision in McNally v. United States, 483 U.S.
350 (1987), and was limited to public officials. See, e.g.
Report of the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse
and Control, The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988: A
Guide to Programs for State and Local Anti-Drug
Assistance, at 124, H. Rep. 101-74 (1989) (“This
amendment overturns the 1987 Supreme Court
decision in McNally v. United States and is intended
to permit prosecution of corrupt public officials under
Federal mail and wire fraud laws.” (emphasis added));
134 Cong. Rec. H11,108–01 (daily ed. Oct. 21, 1988)
(statement of Rep. Conyers) (commenting that § 1346
makes “it no longer necessary to determine whether or
not the scheme or artifice to defraud involved money
or property. This amendment is intended merely to
overturn the McNally decision. No other change in the
law is intended”); but see 134 Cong. Rec. S17, 360–02
(daily ed. Nov. 10, 1988) (statement of Sen. Biden)
(declaring that the “intent [of § 1346] is to reinstate all
of the pre-McNally case law pertaining to the mail and
wire fraud statutes without change”).
The Second Circuit claimed that “[t]he text of §
1346, coupled with the history of its enactment, makes
clear that Congress adopted Margiotta’s fiduciaryduty theory.” Percoco, 13 F.4th at 194 (referencing
United States v. Margiotta, 688 F.2d 108 (2d Cir.
1982)). This claim is unsupported by the text of §
1346, inconsistent with the set of issues addressed in
McNally, and belied by the Second Circuit’s own
statements noting “[t]he bulk of the pre-McNally
8
honest-services cases involved employees . . . .” United
States v. Rybicki, 354 F.3d 124, 142 n.17 (2d Cir.
2003). Moreover, the Second Circuit’s claim that since
the case McNally overruled “leaned heavily on
Margiotta’s reliance-and-control theory,” Congress
must have also adopted the reliance-and-control
theory when it sought to overturn McNally, see
Percoco, 13 F.4th at 195, drastically over-reads
Congress’ action.
McNally addresses what constituted mail
fraud, not who had an applicable duty. McNally was
not decided based on the reliance-and-control theory.
Instead, in McNally the Court looked at the history of
the federal mail fraud statute and concluded, contrary
to the Court of Appeals at the time, that “[t]he mail
fraud statute clearly protects property rights, but does
not refer to the intangible right of the citizenry to good
government.” McNally, 483 U.S. at 356. The Court
went on to hold “[r]ather than construe the statute in
a manner that leaves its outer boundaries ambiguous
and involves the Federal Government in setting
standards of disclosure and good government for local
and state officials, we read [18 U.S.C.] § 1341 as
limited in scope to the protection of property rights”
and advised “[i]f Congress desires to go further, it
must speak more clearly than it has.” Id. at 360. As
even the Second Circuit acknowledged, “[b]ecause the
Court in McNally outright rejected the entire doctrine
of honest-services fraud, it had no occasion to directly
rule on the Margiotta-based theory.” Percoco, 13 F.4th
at 196. Thus, McNally did not explicitly address who
constituted a state and local official.
9
In this context, “[i]t bears emphasis that before
McNally the doctrine of honest services was not a
unified set of rules.” United States v. Brumley, 116
F.3d 728, 733 (5th Cir. 1997). While it is clear that
Congress sought to criminalize violations of the
intangible right to honest services that developed in
the courts prior to McNally, “Congress could not have
intended to bless each and every pre-McNally lower
court ‘honest services’ opinion. Id.
Section 1346 is best understood as accepting the
Court’s invitation to speak more clearly regarding
whether federal fraud statutes were limited to frauds
involving money or property or whether they reach
more broadly into “intangible” ideals of good
governance. Nothing in the text of section 1346 or the
history of McNally supports, must less compels, the
Second Circuit’s test of who can commit honest
services fraud.
II.
The
Second
Circuit’s
Approach
Renders the Statute Impermissibly
Vague
The Fifth Amendment guarantees that “[n]o
person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law.” U.S. Const., amend. V.
“A fundamental principle in our legal system is
that laws which regulate persons or entities must give
fair notice of conduct that is forbidden or required.”
Fed. Commc’ns Comm’n v. Fox Television Station, 567
U.S. 239, 253 (2012) (citing Connally v. Gen. Constr.
Co., 269 U.S. 385, 391 (1926)). Thus, the Court’s
10
“cases establish that the Government violates this
guarantee by taking away someone’s life, liberty, or
property under a criminal law so vague that it fails to
give ordinary people fair notice of the conduct it
punishes, or so standardless that it invites arbitrary
enforcement.” Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. 591,
595 (2015) (citing Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352,
357-58 (1983)); see also generally United States v.
Williams, 553 U.S. 285, 304 (2008) (noting
“[v]agueness doctrine is an outgrowth . . . of the Due
Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.”); Connally,
296 U.S. at 391 (“[A] statute which either forbids or
requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men
of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its
meaning and differ as to its application violates the
first essential of due process of law.”); United States v.
Davis, 139 S.Ct. 2319, 2325 (2019) (quoting Connally);
Sessions v. Dimaya, 138 S.Ct. 1204, 1212 (2018)
(quoting Johnson, also quoting Connally).
“That the terms of a penal statute . . . must be
sufficiently explicit to inform those who are subject to
it what conduct on their part will render them liable
to its penalties is a well-recognized requirement,
consonant alike with ordinary notions of fair play and
the settled rules of law.” Connally, 269 U.S. at 391.
“What renders a statute vague is not the possibility
that it will sometimes be difficult to determine
whether the incriminating fact it establishes has been
proved; but rather the indeterminacy of precisely what
that fact is.” Williams, 553 U.S. at 306; see also Fox
Television Station, 567 U.S. at 253 (“As this Court has
explained, a regulation is not vague because it may at
times be difficult to prove an incriminating fact but
11
rather because it is unclear what fact must be
proved.”).
A. The Federal Honest Services Statute Itself
is Vague and Has Only Been Saved by a
Limiting Construction
“Though it consists of only 28 words, the [honest
services] statute has been invoked to impose criminal
penalties upon a staggeringly broad swath of
behavior.” Sorich, 129 S.Ct. at 1309 (Scalia, J.,
dissenting from denial of certiorari). As a result, even
before the adoption of section 1346, the application of
federal fraud statutes to intangible services has faced
vagueness questions. In McNally, the Court alluded
to vagueness concerns while applying the
constitutional avoidance canon, stating “[r]ather than
construe the statute in a manner that leaves its outer
boundaries ambiguous and involves the Federal
Government in setting standards of disclosure and
good government for local and state officials, we read
[18 U.S.C.] § 1341 as limited in scope to the protection
of property rights.” McNally, 483 U.S. at 360.
As described above, rather than take the hint,
Congress pressed forward, explicitly codifying the
“ambiguous” right to intangible honest services at
section 1346. This proved problematic.
In Skilling v. United States, the Court adopted
a limiting construction of section 1346 to avoid
“encounter[ing] a vagueness shoal,” holding “that §
1346 covers only bribery and kickback schemes.” 561
U.S. 358, 368 (2010). Tellingly, the Court in Skilling
12
was unanimous that, as written, section 1346 is
potentially vague. Compare 561 U.S. 358 (opinion of
the Court) with id. at 415 (Scalia, J., concurring in
part and concurring in judgment). 2 The main dispute
between the opinion of the Court and Justice Scalia’s
concurrence is whether section 1346 is so vague that
it is void or whether it may be saved by a limiting
construction. See also Black v. United States, 561 U.S.
465 (2010) (rejecting the government’s theory of
honest services fraud on the same grounds as in
Skilling); Id. at 474-75 (Scalia, J., concurring in part
and concurring in judgment) (“For the reasons set
forth in my opinion in [Skilling], 18 U.S.C. § 1346 is
unconstitutionally vague.”); id. at 475 (Kennedy, J.,
concurring in part and concurring in judgment) (“To
convict a defendant based on an honest-services-fraud
theory, even one limited to bribes or kickbacks, would
violate his or her rights under the Due Process Clause
of the Fifth Amendment.”).
The Court has not revisited whether the
“intangible right of honest services” is inherently
vague since Skilling, thought it has repeatedly cited
the limiting construction in Skilling to avoid
vagueness concerns in other public corruption cases.
See, e.g., Kelly, 140 S.Ct. at 1571 (citing Skilling); see
also McDonnell, 579 U.S. at 580 (citing Skilling).
2 The opinions of Justice Alito, concurring in part and concurring
in judgment, and Justice Sotomayor (joined by Justices Stevens
and Breyer), concurring in part and dissenting in part, are
focused on the petitioner’s jury trial arguments, rather than his
honest services claims.
13
Thus, section 1346 itself is inherently vague, and has
only been saved by a limiting construction.
B. The Second Circuit’s Test Renders the
Honest Services Provision Impermissibly
Vague
The Second Circuit’s test would undo the
Court’s efforts to save section 1346 from itself and
render the honest services provision impermissibly
vague. In this case, the Second Circuit reaffirmed its
test from an early case, United States v. Margiotta,
688 F.2d 108 (2d Cir. 1982), by concluding that a
person who was not employed by the government
nevertheless owed the government a fiduciary duty if
“he dominated and controlled any governmental
business” and “people working in the government
actually relied on him because of a special relationship
he had with the government.” Percoco, 13 F.4th at
194. As the Second Circuit candidly acknowledged,
“there is no precise litmus paper test” for determining
whether a non-governmental official is a fiduciary.
Margiotta, 688 F.2d at 122. The result is a stunningly
vague gloss on top of an already dubious statute.
i.
Persons of Ordinary Intelligence have
No Fair Notice of What Facts Establish
“Domination
and
Control”
of
Government Business
The Second Circuit provides little guidance for
what facts establish domination and control of
governmental business. Margiotta and the lower
court opinion in this case make clear that it relates to
14
getting your way in dealing with the government, but
provide little guidance to separate permissible
influence from criminalized domination. Is getting
nine out of ten people you recommend hired
“domination and control?” What about six? Does it
mean government officials drop what they are doing to
take your call? The result is that persons of ordinary
intelligence have to guess how much winning is too
much, or, perhaps more accurately, how much
winning will be too much for the federal prosecutor in
their jurisdiction. This is the epitome of a vague,
“know it when I see it,” standard that deprives
“ordinary people,” Johnson, 576 U.S. at 595, fair or
meaningful notice of what is prohibited and
encourages arbitrary enforcement.
ii.
People Outside of Government May Not
Know
Whether
Public
Officials
“Actually Relied” on Them nor What
Level of Reliance is Suspect
The Second Circuit looks to whether people in
government “actually relied” on a defendant. This is
problematic for multiple reasons.
First, the “actually relied” on standard depends
on something that is outside of potential defendants’
control. A defendant does not know and often cannot
know what other factors may have influenced a public
official. Public officials are presented with a wide
variety of viewpoints on a daily basis and, when it
comes to making a decision, correlation is not
necessarily causation. Just because a person asked a
public official to take an action and that official
15
actually took that action does not mean that the public
official “actually relied” on the person making the
request. See Nicholas W. Allard, Lobbying is an
Honorable Profession: The Right to Petition and the
Competition to be Right, 19 Stan. L. & Pol’y Rev. 23,
31 (2008) (“Lawmakers and their staff, if they are any
good, as most are, do not rely on a single source of
information when making policy decisions. . . . So,
while lobbyists have an opportunity to influence policy
decisions by informing lawmakers of their client’s
view, they are generally not the only source a
lawmaker relies on . . . .”).
Moreover, public officials (particularly elected
officials) have a strong incentive to want to be liked by
their constituents and lobbyists have a strong
financial incentive to appear effective to their clients.
Accordingly, it is often in both the official and the
requester’s interests to allow the requester to take
credit for the official action, particularly when the
requester is reporting back to their client or when the
requester represents an influential constituency,
whether or not the public official “actually relied” on
the requester.
Second, as with the first prong, “actual reliance”
presumably requires something more than just being
influential. But the Second Circuit does not (and
cannot) provide much guidance on what that more is.
For example, a rarely acknowledged fact in
American politics is that lobbyists and interest groups
often ghost write legislation. A 2019 study “found at
least 10,000 bills almost entirely copied from model
16
legislation were introduced nationwide in the past
eight years, and more than 2,100 of those bills were
signed into law.” Rob O’Dell and Nick Penzenstadler,
You Elected Them to Write New Laws. They’re Letting
Corporations Do It Instead, Center for Public Integrity
(Apr.
4,
2019),
https://publicintegrity.org/politics/state-politics/copypaste-legislate/you-elected-them-to-write-new-lawstheyre-letting-corporations-do-it-instead/.
Whether
this practice is beneficial, because it reduces
redundant uses of resources, promotes consistency,
and minimizes unintended consequences, or harmful,
because outside groups may craft model legislation in
a way that serves their parochial interests, it is a very
widespread occurrence that happens on a bipartisan
basis.
Do legislators “actually rely” on lobbyists or
other outside groups when they introduce and pass
legislation drafted by outside parties? If so, where is
the line between “reliance” and effective lobbying?
Finally, as discussed further infra section IV,
focusing on “actual reliance” raises thorny questions
about protected political activities. The core idea
behind the American republic is that government is
supposed to be responsive to the people in whose name
it acts. Particularly in dealing with elected officials,
citizens groups and effective lobbyists often pitch their
preferred policy outcomes in terms of the associated
public and political benefits. Does a public official
“actually rely” on a third party if they trust their
judgment and accept their representations of the
political consequences of taking or not taking a
17
preferred action? Persons of ordinary intelligence do
not and cannot know.
iii.
Persons of Ordinary Intelligence have
No Prior Notice of What Makes a
Relationship with a Public Official
Sufficiently “Special” as to be Suspect 3
The Second Circuit looks to whether reliance is
based on a “special relationship” between the
defendant and the government. But it is unclear what
makes these relationships “special” other than other
people rightly or wrongly perceived these individuals
as powerful.
Unlike state and federal ethics laws, the Second
Circuit’s approach does not provide a specific list of
covered persons. See generally N.Y. Pub. Off. § 73
(Addressing conflicts of interest for New York state
government officials); 18 U.S.C. § 208 (prohibiting
federal employees from participating “personally and
There is some ambiguity regarding whether a “special
relationship” is a necessary element under the Second Circuit’s
test. The jury instructions in this case and the court in Margiotta
both ask whether people in government relied on the defendant
based upon a “special relationship.” However, at least once the
Second Circuit dropped the special relationship qualifier from its
description of the fiduciary duty test. See Percoco, 13 F.4th at
195 (“In our view, § 1346 covers those individuals who are
government officials as well as private individuals who are relied
on by the government and who in fact control some aspect of
government business.”). While the omission of the “special
relationship” might remove one source of concern regarding
vagueness, it would substantially heighten the overbreadth
concerns discussed infra section IV.
3
18
substantially” in matters in which enumerated
persons have a financial interest); 5 C.F.R.
§ 26.35.502(b) (defining “covered relationship” for
purposes of certain federal ethics obligations).
The defendant in Margiotta was a county-level
party chairman. Federal Election Commission data
indicates that there are 242 qualified political parties
registered with the Commission. See Political Action
and Party Committees, Federal Election Commission
(Accessed
July
15,
2022),
https://www.fec.gov/data/committees/pacparty/?cycle=2022&committee_type=Y. This count
does not include all state and local party committees
that would not necessarily need to register with the
FEC, or committees that are otherwise below the
registration threshold. Are the Chairs of all of these
committees
in
“special”
relationships
with
government officials? If so, which officials? If not,
which Chairmen are and which are not?
The
discussion in Margiotta suggests that the Second
Circuit took a more functionalist view towards the
defendant’s relationship with government officials,
however, this approach just muddies the waters
further as to what constitutes a “special” relationship.
Likewise, the defendant in this case was (at the
time) a campaign chairman and former state
employee. For better or worse, former employees
leaving public service and becoming lobbyists is a
fairly common career path. In 2011, reports indicated
that nearly 5,400 former Congressional staffers left
public service to become federal lobbyists in the past
ten years, while close to 400 former lawmakers
19
became lobbyists.
T.W. Farnam, Study Shows
Revolving Door of Employment Between Congress,
Lobbying Firms, The Washington Post (Sept. 13,
2011), https://www.washingtonpost.com/study-showsrevolving-door-of-employment-between-congresslobbying-firms/2011/09/12/gIQAxPYROK_story.html.
Even if determining who is in a “special”
relationship with government officials such that
additional ethical sidebars are necessary is not an
intrinsically unanswerable question, it is an
inherently legislative question that requires weighing
the pros and cons of different policy choices. See
generally Bond v. United States, 572 U.S. 844, 867
(2014) (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment) (“It is the
responsibility of ‘the legislature, not the Court . . . to
define a crime, and ordain its punishment.’” (quoting
United States v. Wiltberger, 5 Wheat. 76, 95 (1820)).
Therefore, this sort of line drawing is the type of task
that the courts are particularly ill equipped to engage
in. Worse, the Second Circuit does not seriously try to
do so, which leaves persons of ordinary intelligence to
guess if they are in a “special” relationship with a
public official.
The result is that the Second Circuit’s test for a
non-public employee fiduciary is no test at all. To the
contrary, it is little better than a “know it when I see
it” approach that offers no guideposts for non-public
officials to use to gauge their own conduct, provides
nearly limitless opportunities for federal prosecutors
to target influential political figures for little more
reason than they are influential, and risks infringing
20
upon the prerogative of the people of the various states
to set ethical standards for their own officials.
Presciently, Justice Scalia’s concurrence in
Skilling warns that the majority’s limiting
construction “would not suffice to eliminate the
vagueness of the statute” because “it would not solve
the most fundamental indeterminacy: the character of
the ‘fiduciary capacity’ to which the bribe and the
kickback restriction applies. Does it apply only to
public officials?” Skilling, 561 U.S. at 421 (Scalia, J.,
concurring in part and concurring in judgment).
Justice Scalia returned to these concerns in
Sorich, noting “[t]here is a serious argument that
§ 1346 is nothing more than an invitation for federal
courts to develop a common-law crime of unethical
conduct” and expressing concern that “[w]ithout some
coherent limiting principle to define what ‘the
intangible right of honest services’ is, whence it
derives, and how it is violated, this expansive phrase
invites abuse by headline-grabbing prosecutors in
pursuit of local officials, state legislators, and
corporate CEOs who engage in any manner of
unappealing or ethically questionable conduct.” 129
S.Ct. at 1310 (Scalia, J., dissenting from a denial of
certiorari).
The Second Circuit’s test breathes life into
Justice Scalia’s fears. Either the Second Circuit’s test
is incorrect or the honest services provision is
impermissibly vague and cannot continue to stand.
21
III.
The Second Circuit’s Test
Serious Federalism Concerns
Raises
The Second Circuit’s test raises serious
federalism concerns by supplanting the ethics
judgments of State and local governments with those
of federal courts and prosecutors.
It is axiomatic that “[i]n our federal system, the
National Government possesses only limited powers;
the States and the people retain the remainder.”
Bond, 572 U.S. at 854. Thus, it is a “well-established
principle that ‘it is incumbent upon the federal courts
to be certain of Congress’ intent before finding that
federal law overrides’ the ‘usual constitutional balance
of federal and state powers.’” Id. at 858 (quoting
Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U.S. 452, 460 (1991))
(additional citation omitted). This certainty requires
at least a “clear statement by Congress.” Cleveland v.
United States, 531 U.S. 12, 27 (2000) (“Absent clear
statement by Congress, we will not read the mail fraud
statute to place under federal superintendence a vast
array of conduct traditionally policed by the States.”);
see also Bond, 572 U.S. at 858-59 (The Court “‘will not
be quick to assume that Congress has meant to effect
a significant change in the sensitive relationship
between federal and state criminal jurisdiction.’”
(quoting United States v. Bass, 404 U.S. 336, 349
(1971))).
The State of New York has already adopted
ethics rules that spell out who owes the public a duty
and a what that duty entails. Unlike the Second
Circuit’s test, these rules do not depend on ambiguous
22
understandings of “domination and control” or caseby-case determinations of who is in a “special
relationship.”
For example, under New York ethics laws, “[n]o
person who has served as an officer or employee in the
executive chamber of the governor shall within a
period of two years after termination of such service
appear or practice before any state agency.” N.Y. Pub.
Off. § 73(8)(a)(iv).
Statewide elected officials, state employees, and
members of the legislature are prohibited from
participating in certain hiring and employment
decisions, contracting decisions, and public fund
investment decisions related to “relative[s],” N.Y. Pub.
Off. §§ 73(14)-(15), where the term “relative[s]” is
specially defined as “any person living in the same
household as the individual and any person who is a
direct descendant of that individual’s grandparents or
the spouse of such descendant.” N.Y. Pub. Off.
§ 73(1)(m).
“Political party chairman,” such as the appellee
in Margiotta, is also a specifically defined class of
persons under New York law, subject to at least five
separate ethics restrictions. See N.Y. Pub. Off.
§ 73(4)(a) (prohibiting certain political party
chairmen, association of which they are a member, or
company of which they own or control ten percent or
more of the stock from selling goods or services in
valued over $25 to the state or contracting with a
private entity to do so); Id. at (4)(b) (prohibiting
certain political party chairmen, association of which
23
they are a member, or company of which they own or
control ten percent or more of the stock from selling
goods or services in valued over $25 to the a city
agency or contracting with a private entity to do so);
id. at 7(a) (prohibiting a political party chairman from
receiving compensation to appear before or render
services in relation to an enumerated set of
proceedings before state agencies, including licensing
proceedings); id. at 7(b) (prohibiting certain political
party chairmen from receiving compensation to
appear before or render services in relation to an
enumerated set of proceedings before city agencies,
including licensing proceedings); id. at (12)
(prohibiting political party chairmen who hold certain
positions in a firm, association, or corporation from
orally communicating with or without compensation
as to the merits of a matter described in (7)(a) and
(7)(b) with an officer or employee of the relevant
agency).
Under the Second Circuit’s test for honest
services, Congress has superseded these state-level
determinations sub silento. This falls well short of the
need to be “certain” of Congressional intent before
overriding state criminal law, particularly where, as
here, the criminal law relates to sensitive issues of
self-government. See generally Brief for Members of
the Virginia General Assembly as Amici Curiae in
Support of Petitioner, at 13-17, McDonnell v. United
States, No. 15-474 (Mar. 7, 2016) (expressing concern
that a prior expansive reading of federal corruption
laws improperly displaced state law by federally
criminalizing conduct that was legal under state law);
Amici Curiae Brief of 77 Former State Attorneys
24
General (Non-Virginia) Supporting Petitioner Robert
McDonnell, at 12-17, McDonnell v. United States, No.
15-474 (Mar. 7, 2016) (arguing that the constitution
forbids courts from construing vague federal statutes
to criminalize conduct that is legal under state law).
The Second Circuit’s test risks replacing the
judgment of the people of New York with that of the
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
or the case-by-case opinions of federal jurors. As such,
the Second Circuit’s interpretation raises serious
federalism concerns that should be avoided. See
generally Kelly, 140 S.Ct. at 1574 (“Federal
prosecutors may not use property fraud statutes to
‘set[] standards of disclosure and good government for
local and state officials.’ . . . [N]ot every corrupt act by
state or local officials is a federal crime.” (quoting
McNally, 483 U.S. at 360)).
IV.
The Second Circuit’s Test Criminalizes
and Chills Protected First Amendment
Activities
The First Amendment provides “Congress shall
make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech . . .
or the right of the people peaceably . . . to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.” U.S. Const.,
amend. 1.
The lower court opinion rejected Petitioner’s
First Amendment concerns, claiming “it is not obvious
why speech directed to the government would
necessarily require special treatment.” Percoco, 13
F.4th at 197.
25
The
First
Amendment
is
specifically
“[p]remised on mistrust of government power” that
recognized “[s]peech is an essential mechanism of
democracy, for it is the means to hold officials
accountable to the people.” Citizens United, 558 U.S.
at 339, 340. “In a representative democracy such as
this, these branches of government act on behalf of the
people and, to a very large extent, the whole concept
of representation depends upon the ability of the
people to make their wishes known to their
representatives.” Eastern R.R. Presidents Conf. v.
Noerr Motor Freight, Inc., 365 U.S. 127, 137 (1961).
Accordingly, laws that constrain the ability of the
people to “freely inform the government of their
wishes . . . regulate, not business activity, but political
activity.” Id.
“[W]e may not forget that our constitutional
system is to allow the greatest freedom of access to
Congress, so that the people may press their selfish
interests, with Congress acting as arbiter of their
demands and conflicts.” United States v. Harriss, 347
U.S. 612, 635 (1954) (Jackson, J., dissenting).
Consistent with this understanding, “lobbying is
protected by the First Amendment.”
Regan v.
Taxation With Representation of Washington, 461 U.S.
540, 552 (1983) (Blackmun, J., concurring) (citing
Eastern R.R. Presidents Conf.., 365 U.S. at 137-38); see
also Margiotta, 688 F.2d at 128-29 (“One of the
essential purposes of the First Amendment is to
protect the unfettered discussion of government
affairs . . . and the activities of lobbyists and others
who seek to exercise influence in the political process
are basic in our democratic system.”).
26
This is true, even when people and groups work
together to try to influence government agencies. “The
First Amendment protects [citizens’] right not only to
advocate their cause but also to select what they
believe to be the most effective means for so doing.”
Meyer v. Grant, 486 U.S. 414, 424 (1988).
Accordingly, groups of people and companies
may band together to pursue what they perceive as
their common interests. See California Motor Transp.
Co. v. Trucking Unlimited, 404 U.S. 508, 510-11 (1972)
(“[I]t would be destructive of rights of association and
of petition to hold that groups with common interests
may not . . . use the channels and procedures of state
and federal agencies and courts to advocate their
causes and points of view respecting resolution of their
business and economic interests vis-a-vis their
competitors.”); United Mine Workers of America v.
Pennington, 381 U.S. 657, 670 (1965) (“Joint efforts to
influence public officials do not violate the antitrust
laws even though intended to eliminate competition.
Such conduct is not illegal, either standing alone or as
part of a broader scheme . . . .”).
People and groups may also pay to hire third
parties to help them effectively advance their
interests. See United Mine Workers of America, Dist.
12 v. Illinois State Bar Ass’n, 389 U.S. 217, 221-22
(1967) (“We hold that the freedom of speech, assembly,
and petition guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth
Amendments gives petitioner the right to hire
attorneys on a salary basis to assist its members in the
assertion of their legal rights.”); see also Meyer, 486
U.S. at 416 (holding that a state law which prohibited
27
groups from hiring paid petition circulators violated
the First Amendment).
Against this backdrop, the “Court has
recognized only one permissible ground for restricting
political speech: the prevention of ‘quid pro quo’
corruption or its appearance.” Fed. Election Comm’n
v. Cruz, 142 S.Ct. 1638, 1652 (2022)“[G]eneral
influence” does not constitute quid pro quo corruption.
Id. at 1653; Citizens United, 558 U.S. at 359 (“The fact
that speakers may have influence over or access to
elected officials does not mean that these officials are
corrupt.” 4). This is because “[f]avoritism and influence
are not . . . avoidable in representative politics. It is
in the nature of an elected representative to favor
certain policies, and, by necessary corollary, to favor
the voters and contributors who support these
policies.” Id. at 359 (quoting McConnell, 540 U.S. at
297 (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment in part and
dissenting in part)).
Moreover,
“[b]ecause
First
Amendment
freedoms need breathing space to survive, government
may regulate in the area only with narrow specificity.”
National Ass’n for Advancement of Colored People v.
Button, 371 U.S. 415, 433 (1963); see also Fed. Election
Comm’n v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., 551 U.S. 449,
468-69 (2007) (quoting Button). “[T]he threat of
enforcement of an overbroad law may deter or ‘chill’
constitutionally protected speech – especially when
the overbroad statute imposes criminal sanctions”
4 Tellingly, the concern discussed in Citizens United and other
case law is whether the elected official is corrupt, not the person
trying to influence them.
28
because “[m]any persons, rather than undertake the
considerable burden (and sometimes risk) of
vindicating their rights through case-by-case
litigation, will choose simply to abstain from protected
speech.” Virginia v. Hicks, 539 U.S. 113, 119 (2003).
Similarly, it is well established that “vague laws chill
speech.” Citizens United, 558 U.S. at 324. Thus,
“[w]here the First Amendment is implicated, the tie
goes to the speaker, not the censor.” Wisconsin Right
to Life, Inc., 551 U.S. at 474.
The Second Circuit’s test regulates political
activity with anything but “narrow specificity.”
The jury instructions in this case purport to
disclaim that “mere influence and participation in the
processes of government standing alone are not
enough to impose a fiduciary duty.” United States v.
Percoco, No. 16 CR 776 (VEC) (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 1, 2018)
(Appendix J at 142a). However, the Second Circuit in
Margiotta gives the game away by asserting that the
“statute properly supported a prosecution for [the
defendant’s] breach of at least a minimum duty not to
sell his substantial influence and control over
governmental processes.” Margiotta, 688 F.2d at 122
(emphasis added). Thus, under the Second Circuit’s
test, at some indeterminate and ethereal point, “mere
influence,” which is permissible and does not impose a
fiduciary duty, passes into “substantial influence and
control,” which does. See generally United States v.
McClain, 934 F.2d 822, 831 (7th Cir. 1991) (“[S]aving
‘official right’ prosecutions only for private persons
with a ‘vise-like’ grip on public power . . . might simply
prohibit being too successful a lobbyist.”).
29
Notwithstanding invocations to the contrary, the
Second Circuit’s attempt to attach a fiduciary duty to
persons who exercise “dominance and control” is an
impermissible attempt to regulate influence by
another name. See generally William Shakespeare,
Romeo and Juliet, act 2, sc. 2 (“What’s in a name? That
which we call a rose/By any other word would smell as
sweet.”).
Moreover, even if it were permissible to
regulate “domination and control” of the policy process
by private parties under the honest services statute,
the existence of an indeterminate and ethereal line
between “mere influence” and “domination and
control” alone is enough to chill protected speech. See
Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., 551 U.S. at 475 (quoting
Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 553 U.S. 234, 255
(2002)) (“The Government may not suppress lawful
speech as the means to suppress unlawful speech.”).
“[T]he First Amendment protects against the
Government; it does not leave us at the mercy of
noblesse oblige.” United States v. Stevens, 559 U.S.
460, 480 (2010). The Second Circuit’s fiduciary duty
test does not pass muster under the First Amendment
and should be rejected accordingly.
V.
Prosecutorial Discretion is Insufficient
to Save a Vague and Overbroad
Interpretation
Finally, it is insufficient to suggest that the
government will only apply the Second Circuit test in
egregious cases, as the government implicitly does by
30
focusing on some of the unsavory details of Petitioner’s
conduct. See, e.g., Brief for the United States in
Opposition, at 14-17, Percoco v. United States, No. 211158 (May 2022).
“It will not do to say that a prosecutor's sense of
fairness and the Constitution would prevent a
successful . . . prosecution for some of the activities
seemingly embraced within the sweeping statutory
definitions.” Baggett v. Bullitt, 377 U.S. 360, 373
(1964)); see also Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ.
of State of N.Y., 385 U.S. 589, 599 (1967) (“It is no
answer to say that the statute would not be applied in
such a case”). “Prosecutors necessarily enjoy much
discretion and generally use it wisely. But the liberty
of our citizens cannot rest at the whim of an individual
who could have a grudge or, perhaps, just exercise bad
judgment.” United States v. Wells, 519 U.S. 482, 512
n. 15 (1997) (Stevens, J., dissenting).
High profile allegations and findings of
misconduct by government investigators and
prosecutors in sensitive investigative matters,
particularly those involving allegations of public
integrity violations, suggest that bad judgment is not
just a speculative concern. For example, in 2011 the
Department of Justice Office of Professional
Responsibility identified multiple Brady violations
and concluded that several Department of Justice
attorneys “engaged in professional misconduct by
acting in reckless disregard of his disclosure
obligations,” while another “exercised poor judgment”
in the prosecution of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. See,
e.g., Department of Justice, Office of Professional
31
Responsibly,
Investigation
of
Allegations
of
Prosecutorial Misconduct in United States v. Theodore
F. Stevens, Crim. No. 08-231 (D.D.C. 2009) (ESG) at
666-71
(Aug.
15,
2011),
https://www.leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/052412081511Report.pdf.
More recent, a bipartisan group of Senators
expressed concern about a 2019 internal audit by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) that details a
litany of policy violations that the FBI committed
between January 2018 and June 2019,” including 747
violations in “sensitive investigative matters”
(“SIMs”), noting that the audit findings “call into
question whether the FBI is rigorously adhering to . .
. requirements to consider whether a particular
investigative action is the least intrusive method and
to consider adverse impacts on civil liberties and
public confidence before opening a SIM” and “suggest[]
a pattern and practice of evading the rules, which
consequently opens the door for political and other
improper considerations to infect the investigative
decision-making process.” Letter from Chairman Dick
Durbin and Ranking Member Charles Grassley to
Inspector General Michael Horowitz (Mar. 28, 2022),
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/20220328%20RJD%20CEG%20to%20DOJ%20OIG%20(FBI
%20SIM%20Audit)(001).pdf; see also FBI Inspection
Division,
2019
Domestic
Investigations
and
Operations Guide Audit 10/21/2019 – 11/01/2019
(Jan.
10,
2020),
https://media.washtimes.com/media/misc/2022/03/11/
audit.pdf.
32
Moreover, in both Kelly and McDonnell, the
government adopted highly aggressive theories of the
law that were rejected by a unanimous court.
As both a matter of principle and experience,
the Court should not rely upon feigns toward the
responsible use of prosecutorial discretion to save the
Second Circuit’s fiduciary duty test. The Court has
previously stated that it “would not uphold an
unconstitutional statute merely because the
Government promised to use it responsibly.” Stevens,
559 U.S. at 480. It should not do so in this case.
CONCLUSION
The Second Circuit’s interpretation raises
serious constitutional concerns related to due process,
federalism, and the First Amendment.
These
concerns can be avoided by rejecting the Second
Circuit’s expansive and untethered interpretation of
honest services provision and limiting honest services
in the public sector to people who owe a formal duty to
the public. Accordingly, the judgment of the court
below should be reversed and this case should be
remanded to the lower court for proceedings
consistent with a proper reading of the statute.
33
Respectfully submitted,
GARY M. LAWKOWSKI
Counsel of Record
Supreme Court Bar No.
315998
Dhillon Law Group, Inc.
2121 Eisenhower Avenue,
Suite 402
Alexandria, VA 22314
Telephone: 703-965-0330
GLawkowski@DhillonLaw.com
MICHAEL BOOS
DANIEL H. JORJANI*
Citizens United
Citizens United Foundation
The Presidential Coalition
1006 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Telephone: 202-547-5420
MichaelBoos@CitizensUnited.org
DanielJorjani@CitizensUnited.org
*Application for Admission Pending
Counsel for amici curiae Citizens United, Citizens
United Foundation, and the Presidential Coalition
September 7, 2022
This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.