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Wide Support Pours in for Gov. McDonnell's Conviction Appeal

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Support for former Gov. Bob McDonnell is pouring in as 13 amicus briefs were filed with the U.S. Supreme Court this week supporting his case.

The briefs urge the Court to overturn his conviction on corruption charges. McDonnell's appeal will be heard by the Court next month on April 27.

A jury convicted McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, in September 2014, of accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans in exchange for doing favors for vitamin executive Jonnie Williams.

The amicus briefs include support from hundreds of legal professionals, scholars, political figures from both parties, business leaders, advocacy groups, civil rights leaders, and other policymakers.

McDonnell filed an opening brief with the Court last month to appeal 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," the brief states.

"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 added. 

"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 Court the opportunity to determine what actually is criminal political conduct.

McDonnell was sentenced to two years in prison; his wife was sentenced to a year and a day.

The Supreme Court is expected to hand down a ruling by the end of June.

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