Policy

POLICY

Public Corruption: Responding to Skilling

Corruption, Supreme Court, Public Corruption

Responding to Skilling

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has proposed legislation to address the Supreme Court's Skilling decision.

We suggest extending 18 U.S.C. § 208, a conflict of interest statute that currently applies to the executive branch, to include members and employees of the United States Congress, as well as state and local government employees. Under § 208, executive branch employees are prohibited from taking any official action that affects their personal financial interest. It is hard to argue that members of Congress and congressional staff should not be subject to the same prohibitions.

Similarly, because the law already applies to District of Columbia officials, it is only logical to apply it to all state and local officials as well.

Moreover and significantly, the Skilling Court urged Congress to "employ standards of sufficient definiteness and specificity to overcome due process concerns," should Congress choose to criminalize undisclosed self-dealing by public officials. The fact that the constitutionality of § 208 already has been upheld by appellate courts makes CREW's proposal an even more compelling solution.

Although CREW's proposal does not extend the statute to include members of the judiciary, lawmakers may want to consider adding the judicial branch, thereby providing a government-wide conflicts standard.