The 'Bridgegate' investigation was launched in 2014 by U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul J. Fishman. He worked for the Attorney General of the U.S., Eric Holder. Obama was Holder's boss.
From a crestfallen Associated Press:
"A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the convictions of two political insiders involved in the “Bridgegate” scandal that ultimately derailed the 2016 president bid of their ally, then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.Justice Elena Kagan was nominated to the high court by Pres. Obama in May 2010, and confirmed by the Senate that same year. Since then, Kagan has proved to be first- rate, second-rate judge, however, in this case, even a stopped clock...
The justices said there was evidence of deception, corruption, and abuse of power in the political payback saga that involved four days of traffic jams on the world’s busiest motor-vehicle bridge, the George Washington Bridge spanning the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey. But “not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court."
"In the end, the justices concluded that the government had overreached in prosecuting Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni for their roles in the scheme. Kelly was a deputy chief of staff to Christie. Baroni was a top Christie appointee to the Port Authority, the bridge’s operator. (Christie's political standing was badly damaged by the scandal)The bottom line is simple: Abuse of power is not a crime - even for Trump. Plus, the federal statutes outlawing fraud demand that the government prove that a victim (here, the Port Authority) lost “money or property.” There was no such loss here, nor was that the purpose of the scheme.
The court’s decision to side with Kelly and Baroni continues a pattern from recent years of restricting the government’s ability to use broad federal laws to prosecute public corruption cases. In 2016, the court overturned the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. In 2010, the court sharply curbed prosecutors’ use of an anti-fraud law in the case of ex-Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling."
‘Bridgegate’ Was Tawdry but Not Illegal. But why a traffic jam from Fort Lee, New Jersey, across the George Washington Bridge, and into New York City?
"Christie, a Republican, wanted to show that he had bipartisan support for a second term as governor, and Mark Sokolich, then as now Fort Lee mayor and a Democrat, had refused to support Christie’s reelection after receiving a “favor” from the governor (an “expensive shuttle bus service”).
Thinking that Sokolich had to be punished for his ingratitude, the New Jersey officials decided to show him who was the boss. (No, not that “Boss.”)
The “Great Motor Vehicle Holdup” lasted for more than a mere hour or two. It went on for four days. (After all, we’re talking “New Joisey” here.) Those Christie appointees had a reputation to uphold. Live by the political favor, die by the political payback. The entire episode was a tawdry, political dirty trick."
Obama Has Faced More Unanimous Supreme Court Smackdowns Than Any Other President
"Ilya Shapiro, a constitutional scholar with the Cato Institute and editor-in-chief of its “Supreme Court Review,” has been tracking the number of unanimous decisions against the Obama administration.The high court's unanimous smackdown of 'Bridgegate' extends Obama's losing streak to 45.
According to Shapiro, President Bill Clinton’s administration lost 31 Supreme Court cases unanimously during his eight years in office. President George W. Bush’s administration lost 30.
Obama has bested both of their records by nearly 50 percent: 44 unanimous losses."
