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Page Number: 14.0

10 

SNYDER v. UNITED STATES 

Opinion of the Court 

If  the  Government  were  correct  that  §666  also  covered 
gratuities,  Congress  would  have  created  an  entirely
inexplicable  regime  for  state  and  local  officials.    For  one, 
even though bribery has been treated as a far more serious 
offense, Congress would have authorized the same 10-year 
maximum  sentences  for  (i) gratuities  to  state  and  local 
officials and (ii) bribes to state and local officials.  See Sun-
Diamond, 526 U. S., at 405.  In addition, Congress would
have  authorized  punishing  gratuities  to  state  and  local 
officials five times more severely than gratuities to federal 
officials—10 years for state and local officials compared to 
2 years for federal officials.

The  Government  cannot  explain  why  Congress  would 
have created such substantial sentencing disparities.  We 
cannot  readily  assume  that  Congress  authorized  a  2-year
sentence  for,  say,  a  Cabinet  Secretary  who  accepts  an 
unlawful gratuity while authorizing a 10-year sentence on 
a  local  school  board  member  who  accepts  an  identical 
gratuity.  What  sense  would  that  make?    In  short,  the 
inexplicable  anomalies  ushered  in  by  the  Government’s
approach  powerfully  demonstrate  that  §666  is  a  bribery 
statute. 

Fifth  is  federalism.  Interpreting  §666  as  a  gratuities
statute would significantly infringe on bedrock federalism 
principles.  As  this  Court  has  long  recognized,  a  State
“defines  itself  as  a  sovereign  through  the  structure  of  its 
government,  and  the  character  of  those  who  exercise 
government  authority.”  McDonnell  v.  United  States,  579 
U. S. 550, 576 (2016) (quotation marks omitted).  Therefore, 
as  a  general  matter,  States  have  the  “prerogative  to
regulate the permissible scope of interactions between state
officials and their constituents.”  Ibid.; see United States v. 
Bass, 404 U. S. 336, 350 (1971).

As  noted  above,  state  and  local  governments  have
adopted  a  variety  of  approaches  to  regulating  state  and
local officials’ acceptance of gratuities.  See supra, at 2–4.