Opinion ID: 77755
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Medical College Counts

Text: 38 In the Medical College counts, Walker was charged with mail fraud and honest services mail fraud for (1) making false representations to the Medical College officials about his ownership interest in Georgia Personnel and the Augusta Focus in order to get around state rules prohibiting state office holders from contracting with state agencies; and (2) for failure to disclose the transaction. Defendants argue that the fraud alleged in the Medical College scheme is predicated on the violation of state financial disclosure rules and a non-criminal state ethics provision prohibiting legislators from doing business with state entities. They claim that enforcement of state ethics rules is solely within the power of the states, and that prosecution in federal court unconstitutionally infringes on this state power. 39 The principles of federalism recognize that the states and the federal government exist as dual sovereigns, constraining the federal government from exerting federal power in areas that the Constitution reserves to the states. See, e.g., Linder v. United States, 268 U.S. 5, 19, 45 S.Ct. 446, 449, 69 L.Ed. 819 (1925); Keller v. United States, 213 U.S. 138, 148, 29 S.Ct. 470, 473, 53 L.Ed. 737 (1909). Pursuant to traditional norms of federalism, a federal court may not instruct state officials on how to conform their conduct to state law, because this power is reserved to the states. Pennhurst State Sch. & Hosp. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 106, 104 S.Ct. 900, 911, 79 L.Ed.2d 67 (1984). Relying on these principles, Defendants argue that a prosecution predicated on a non-criminal state ethics provision is unconstitutional, since only the state is entitled to criminalize Walker's conduct. 40 We disagree. The claims against Walker were not predicated on any violation of state law. In fact, the jury instructions specifically cautioned jurors not to decide whether Walker violated any state law, but to consider those laws only to the extent that the evidence indicated an intent to commit fraud on Walker's part. Moreover, an honest services mail fraud or mail fraud conviction does not require proof of a state law violation. United States v. Hasner, 340 F.3d 1261, 1269 (11th Cir.2003); see also Langford v. Rite Aid of Ala., Inc., 231 F.3d 1308, 1312-13 (11th Cir.2000) (finding that when a relationship of trust exists between parties, a duty to disclose information can be found even in the absence of a statute or regulation). Thus, the jury could have found that Walker violated the mail fraud statutes by failing to disclose his relationship with the Medical College without considering the state ethics requirement. We therefore find that Walker's federalism claims have no merit, and we affirm the convictions on the Medical College counts.