Fmr Gov. McDonnell Takes His Conviction to the Supreme Court

Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell filed an opening brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday appealing his conviction on corruption charges.

McDonnell is appealing his conviction on charges that he accepted gifts and loans in exchange for five "official acts."

The brief focuses on the question of what legally constitutes an "official action" by someone holding an elected office.

"Yet those five acts -- alleged in the indictment, charged to the jury, and essential to the convictions -- were limited to the most routine political activities: arranging meetings, asking questions, and attending events," the brief said.

"There is no dispute that Governor McDonnell never exercised any governmental power on behalf of his benefactor, promised to do so, or pressured others to," stated the brief.

"This case marks the first time in our history that a public official has been convicted of corruption despite never agreeing to put a thumb on the scales of any government decision," it went on to say. 

"Officials routinely arrange meetings for donors, take their calls, politely listen to their ideas, and refer them to aides. In criminalizing those everyday acts, the government has put every federal, state, and local official nationwide in its prosecutorial crosshairs," it continued. 

According to McDonnell's Supreme Court brief, that significant expansion of several major federal crimes overturns "bedrock principles of constitutional law, centuries of legal history... and basic common sense."

The case gives the Supreme Court the opportunity to determine what actually is criminal political conduct.

McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were convicted in 2014. McDonnell was sentenced to two years in prison; his wife was sentenced to a year and a day.

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