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Page Number: 3.0

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 18–1059 
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BRIDGET ANNE KELLY, PETITIONER v. 
UNITED STATES 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT 

[May 7, 2020]

 JUSTICE KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. 
For four days in September 2013, traffic ground to a halt 
in Fort Lee, New Jersey.  The cause was an unannounced 
realignment of 12 toll lanes leading to the George Washing-
ton Bridge, an entryway into Manhattan administered by
the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  For dec-
ades, three of those access lanes had been reserved during 
morning rush hour for commuters coming from the streets 
of  Fort  Lee.    But  on  these  four  days—with  predictable
consequences—only a single lane was set aside.  The public
officials who ordered that change claimed they were reduc-
ing the number of dedicated lanes to conduct a traffic study.
In  fact,  they  did  so  for  a  political  reason—to  punish  the 
mayor of Fort Lee for refusing to support the New Jersey
Governor’s reelection bid. 

Exposure of their behavior led to the criminal convictions
we review here.  The Government charged the responsible 
officials  under  the  federal  statutes  prohibiting  wire  fraud
and fraud on a federally funded program or entity.  See 18 
U. S. C. §§1343, 666(a)(1)(A).  Both those laws target fraud-
ulent schemes for obtaining property.  See §1343 (barring