The One Line in the Supreme Court “Bridgegate” Decision That Sums Up Now

Alex Edelman/ZUMA

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.On Thursday, the Supreme Court threw out the convictions of key allies to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the notorious scandal known as “Bridgegate.”
The unanimous decision was at once a jarring throwback—who can properly recall anything before Donald Trump—and instantly recognizable. After all, two political aides emerging essentially unscathed despite overwhelming evidence of public corruption seems entirely appropriate, even expected, for this current moment. 
One line in the ruling all but admitted as much. Here’s Justice Elena Kagan writing for the court:

The evidence the jury heard no doubt shows wrongdoing—deception, corruption, abuse of power. But the federal fraud statutes at issue do not criminalize all such conduct.

A similar legal calculus could be applied to countless acts of malfeasance we’ve seen from the Trump administration, including the events that sparked Trump’s impeachment. (Recall the president’s lawyers claiming that abuse of power isn’t necessarily an impeachable offense.) Moreover, creating a traffic jam as a form of political retribution, as Christie’s aides did in 2013, is exactly the kind of petty criminal behavior that fuels Trumpworld.