The US Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion settling the infamous BridgeGate scandal. The conclusion we can all take comfort with is that it does matter who we elect into public office.
BridgeGate happened in New Jersey. A local mayor didn’t endorse Governor Chris Christie for re-election, so for political payback the governor’s office closed lanes accessing the George Washington Bridge which resulted in traffic problems for that mayor’s city. It was a shameful act. It was unethical. It was indecent. But it was lawful.
The now vindicated douchebags who did this did so just to mess up the works for the mayor. They, in no way, profited from this scheme, so the Court said there is no crime here.
From the unanimous opinion-
“The realignment of the toll lanes was an exercise of regulatory power—something this Court has already held fails to meet the statutes’ property requirement. And the employees’ labor was just the incidental cost of that regulation, rather than itself an object of the officials’ scheme. We therefore reverse the convictions.”
In a position that does wield some power, such as the governor’s office, the consequences of a petty act could have an enormous impact on any number of people entirely unconnected to the situation. It is not unfair to imagine how lane closures could slow the response time of first responsers on their way to a lifesaving call.
The lesson is don’t elect douchebags. Sure the actual call was made by unelected staff, but c’mon. I’m not say anything that ain’t excepted by the Court and please note that those aides who were charged were hired by the guy who got elected, served at his pleasure, and could’ve been fire by him at any time. In other words, it all starts at the top. Don’t elect someone who could do such a thing and we won’t have to worry.
Let BridgeGate serve as proof positive that we need to elect good people. Elections still matter.
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Editor’s Note- the masterful political work of Chief Justice John Roberts deserves mention here. The BridgeGate opinion was unanimous. The opinion was written by Justice Elena Kagan, a hardline lefty from President Barack Obama. But had the opinion been authored by any of the Justices from a Republican president then the media would more than likely use the case to hammer President Donald Trump and try to delegitimize the Supreme Court. Yes, they’ll do that anyway, but with Kagan’s name on the opinion the leftstream media has less cannon fodder. Had either Trump nominee penned this very same opinion, then you would need a search party to find the word unanimous in any article and instead would see descriptions which claim the Trump Court takes care of its friends and such and such. By assigning the opinion to Kagan, a favorite of the left, Roberts shields the Court while the media takes aim elsewhere. A smart move by Roberts here.
