Richard Briffault, Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation, Columbia Law School will discuss the events that occurred at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Did the January 6 rioters “corruptly” interfere with an official proceeding, the counting of the 2020 electoral votes? Similarly did President Trump “corruptly” conspire to interfere with that proceeding? Are the large undisclosed gifts Supreme Court justices have received corruption? Is unlimited campaign spending corrupting our political process?

Corruption is a central concern of the laws governing our political process. But what is it? In a series of cases involving both campaign finance and white-collar crime, the Supreme Court has defined the term narrowly as the quid pro quo exchange of money for official government action, while excluding other forms of undue influence and misuse of office that many other people consider to be corruption.

Briffault’s talk will focus on the contested meaning of corruption in the laws governing the electoral system and official decision-making more broadly.

This lecture is part of Nebraska Law’s Law and Democracy Series, provided by generous support from Barb and Ron Schaefer.

This program has been approved for for 1.0 continuing legal education credit in Nebraska.

Register: https://marketplace.unl.edu/default/briffault.html/