Ex-Portage Mayor Wins Bid for High Court Review in Bribery Case

The US Supreme Court agreed to review the scope of the federal funds bribery statute, an issue which has split the circuit courts, when it granted James Synder’s petition for certiorari Wednesday.

The question in the case is whether 18 USC § 666 criminalizes gratuities—that is, payments rewarding actions an official has already taken or committed to take—without any quid pro quo agreement.

Section 666(a)(1)(B) makes it a crime for a state or local official to “corruptly” solicit, demand, or accept “anything of value from any person, intending to be influenced or rewarded in connection” with government business “involving any thing of value of $5,000 or more.”

Snyder, the former mayor of Portage, Ind., was convicted under for soliciting and accepting $13,000 in connection with the city’s acquisition of garbage trucks.

He was originally tried and convicted of one count of bribery and one tax-related offense in 2019, but successfully moved for a new trial on the bribery count. The jury convicted him again following a second trial in 2021.

Gratuities or Bribes

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, below, rejected Snyder’s argument that Section 666 didn’t apply in the absence of a prior quid pro quo agreement.

“This circuit has repeatedly held that § 666(a)(1)(B) ‘forbids taking gratuities as well as taking bribes,’” the court said, noting that the Second, Sixth, Eighth, and Eleventh circuits had adopted the same position.

The court acknowledged that the First and Fifth circuits had reached the opposite conclusion, but said it wasn’t persuaded by their reasoning.

In opposing review, the government described the circuit split as “lopsided” and said it was “unclear that the issue is outcome determinative in a significant number of cases.”

In Snyder’s case, the government said there was no reason to think the jury convicted him on a gratuity theory alone.

As both the district court and appeals court held, there was ample evidence that he engaged in a quid pro quo bribery, the government said.

Snyder is represented by Williams & Connolly LLP and Andréa E. Gambino of Chicago.

The case is Snyder v. United States, U.S., No. 23-108, 12/8/23.