Political Quotes

“there have been a lot of interesting things in the news this week. One is a story about the Supreme Court's ruling on Tuesday. It confirms the view that many of us have held for some time. Special Prosecutor Donald Smaltz was overreaching, at the very least, in indicting and trying former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy. Mr. Smaltz spent over 4 years and about $17 million of our taxpayers' money to run out of office this distinguished public servant. Last December, a jury said ``no'' to Special Prosecutor Smaltz and acquitted Mr. Espy of the charges against him. In fact, the jury said ``no'' and ``no'' and ``no'' and ``no'' and ``no'' and ``no,'' I believe, over 30 times. Now the Supreme Court has said a resounding ``no'' also. They rejected the broad reading urged by Mr. Smaltz of the criminal laws he has used to bring down a Cabinet Secretary. The Supreme Court, Tuesday, concluded that the conviction of a trade association for giving Mr. Espy gifts was correctly thrown out by a lower court. According to the Supreme Court, if Mr. Smaltz's reading of the Federal gratuity statute were correct--a reading that out-of-control special prosecutors seem to have--``it would criminalize, for example, token gifts to the President based on his official position and not linked to any identifiable act--such as the replica jerseys given by championship sports teams each year during ceremonial White House visits . . .”