March 8, 2021
Proof of a “quid pro quo” is central to federal public corruption prosecutions. Recent high-profile cases have tended to focus on the “quo” part of the equation – the official act taken by a public official. Two recent federal prosecutions, in Ohio and Illinois, have drawn attention to the “quid” – the thing of value a public official receives in return for a corrupt official act. In this article, we consider what these two prosecutions may say about the outer limits of federal public corruption law.