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Page Number: 4.0

2 

KELLY v. UNITED STATES 

Opinion of the Court 

fraudulent  schemes  “for  obtaining  money  or  property”);
§666(a)(1)(A)  (making  it  a  crime  to  “obtain[ ]  by  fraud  . . . 
property”).  The  jury  convicted  the  defendants,  and  the 
lower courts upheld the verdicts.

The question presented is whether the defendants com-
mitted  property  fraud.    The  evidence  the  jury  heard  no
doubt  shows  wrongdoing—deception,  corruption,  abuse  of 
power.  But the federal fraud statutes at issue do not crim-
inalize all such conduct.  Under settled precedent, the offi-
cials could violate those laws only if an object of their dis-
honesty  was  to  obtain  the  Port  Authority’s  money  or 
property.  The Government contends it was, because the of-
ficials  sought  both  to  “commandeer”  the  Bridge’s  access
lanes and to divert the wage labor of the Port Authority em-
ployees used in that effort.  Tr. of Oral Arg. 58.  We disa-
gree.  The realignment of the toll lanes was an exercise of 
regulatory power—something this Court has already held 
fails to meet the statutes’ property requirement.  And the 
employees’ labor was just the incidental cost of that regula-
tion, rather than itself an object of the officials’ scheme.  We 
therefore reverse the convictions. 

I 

The setting of this case is the George Washington Bridge. 
Running between Fort Lee and Manhattan, it is the busiest
motor-vehicle bridge in the world.  Twelve lanes with toll-
booths feed onto the Bridge’s upper level from the Fort Lee
side.  Decades ago, the then-Governor of New Jersey com-
mitted  to  a  set  allocation  of  those  lanes  for  the  morning 
commute.  And (save for the four days soon described) his
plan has lasted to this day.  Under the arrangement, nine 
of  the  lanes  carry  traffic  coming  from  nearby  highways.
The three remaining lanes, designated by a long line of traf-
fic  cones  laid  down  each  morning,  serve  only  cars  coming
from Fort Lee. 

The  case’s  cast  of  characters  are  public  officials  who