The general view is that the case is "Paltry". But, does it deserve that its authors go to prison? The United States Supreme Court returned on Tuesday (January 14th) to the so-called "Bridgegate" scandal, a political coup that combines revenge, traffic jams and presidential ambition.
The story goes back to 2013: Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, in the midst of a re-election campaign, is trying to rally opposition members to gain an image of moderation. Courted, the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee refuses to support him.
Shortly thereafter, a close associate of the governor, Bridget Kelly, initiated reprisals. "Now is the time for traffic problems at Fort Lee", she wrote in an email to an official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who controls the bridges between the two states.
"Abject stupidity"
Thus, on September 9, back to school day, the traffic lanes on the George-Washington bridge, one of the busiest in the world with nearly 300,000 daily users, were changed: the three lanes usually reserved for motorists from Fort Lee to reach New York are reduced to one.
The city, located below the building, is completely congested, the children are late for school, the ambulances at the hospital. After four days of chaos, a senior official of the port authority intervenes and the situation returns to normal.
Caught up in the scandal, Mr. Christie, who also hopes to take on the colors of the Grand Old Party (GOP) in the 2016 presidential election, swears that he did not know and dismisses Mme Kelly. Denouncing the behavior of a "Abject stupidity", he claims to have " broken heart ".
Despite his denials, his popularity fell in the polls. His ambitions for the White House will not falter and he will eventually rally to Donald Trump.
Fraud " ?
The case does not stop there. Seized by users, the federal justice system investigates and a court convicts in 2017 Mme Kelly and a port authority official have terms of 18 and 24 months in prison, reduced to 13 and 18 months on appeal. According to these judgments, they committed a 'Fraud' on the pretext of wanting to conduct a study on traffic, in order to hide their true motivation.
In disagreement with this analysis, the convicts turned to the Supreme Court. The attitude in question "Was mean, insensitive and unwise", but call it 'Fraud' East "Absurd", wrote their lawyers to the high court.
"In our system, the abuses of political power are resolved politically", they argued, and if there are to be prosecutions, they must be in "Respect for the rule of law". Otherwise, they warned, the justice ministry risks turning into "Ministry of truth".
President Trump's government is asking the Supreme Court to confirm the courts' decision. "The conspirators" diverted public resources (the working hours of the bridge employees in particular) and could only do so by "Falsely", argued his representative.
The nine "wise men" at the Temple of American Law will hear the arguments on Tuesday and make their decision by June. Convicted "Are not particularly friendly, they made a dirty blow which caused harm", attorney Tom Goldstein, co-founder of the Scotusblog site, noted at a conference. But, according to him, the "wise men" have already expressed their concern about the intervention of prosecutors in the political sphere and could "Prefer to let voters decide this type of problem than put people in prison".
