CRIME

Menendez team asks high court to rule on corruption case

Todd South
Staff Writer, @tsouthjourno
Abbe David Lowell, left, attorney for Sen. Bob Menendez, speaking to the media in April.

Attorneys for Sen. Bob Menendez have filed a request to have his case considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping that the high court will throw out most of his corruption indictment.

Proceedings in his corruption case were halted when the New Jersey Democrat appealed to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that under provisions of the U.S. Constitution, members of Congress cannot be challenged by either the executive or judiciary branches for actions taken during legislative “speech or debate.”

Menendez has pleaded not guilty in the case.

A statement from the senator's attorneys was released Tuesday on the Chadbourne and Parke law firm website:

"Yesterday, Senator Menendez petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to address his claims of immunity under the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution. The petition raises an important issue that has divided the lower courts and that should be resolved by the Supreme Court in Senator Menendez's favor," the statement reads.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice decline to comment on the case.

Menendez's attorney, Abbe David Lowell, and co-counsel argue in their petition to the court that Menendez's alleged actions are constitutionally protected. And that the 3rd Circuit erred when it ruled, opposite at least three other judicial circuits, that members of Congress must “prove the motives underlying their official actions were pure before courts will deem them protected."

That ruling, defense attorneys said, would reverse the speech or debate protections and require courts to question an official's motives, which they claim would set a dangerous precedent that would allow the executive branch to haul members of Congress into court "simply to impugn or even to inquire into the motives underlying their official acts."

The senator's argument may have been bolstered by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that tossed corruption convictions of former Virginia governor Robert McDonnell.

McDonnell had been convicted on charges he helped arrange meetings with state officials on behalf of a businessman who had given him and his wife cash and gifts. But the high court ruled unanimously that the governor's actions were "political," but not "official."

MOBILE USERS: Read the request filed by Sen. Bob Menendez 

Menendez is accused of using his office to help a friend, Florida eye specialist Salomon Melgen, in exchange for $700,000 in contributions that Melgen made to political committees that helped the senator win re-election in 2012.

The April 2015 indictment also alleges that Melgen gave Menendez rides in his personal jet that the senator did not disclose, let the senator stay in the doctor’s Dominican Republic resort home and paid for a Paris hotel suite that Menendez used during a visit to France.

The senator questioned Medicare officials and set up meetings that other senators held over a regulation that was at the center of a $9 million billing dispute between Melgen and the federal government, authorities said.

Prosecutors have 30 days to respond to the petition and can request an extension. The Supreme Court must decide at a later date whether or not to take up the case. If the case does not proceed, the 3rd Circuit ruling denying Menendez’s claims will stand and the case can move forward.

Melgen has also pleaded not guilty to bribery charges, and his case has been on hold while the senator appeals the indictment. Melgen also faces separate Medicare fraud charges in Florida. That trial is scheduled to begin in March.

Email: south@northjersey.com