The first test case pursued by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley was a prosecution of former state Treasurer Timothy Cahill. In light of the jury’s acquittal of the co-defendant and its hung verdict in Cahill’s case, my latest column, which ran in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal, takes a look at the anti-corruption law and the alleged “criminal” activity that Cahill engaged in while making a third-party bid for governor in 2010. You can find my column on the Wall Street Journal’s website, or, for those without a subscription to the Journal, you can find the full column after the jump.
In his book "Three Felonies a Day," attorney Harvey Silverglate describes how the proliferation of criminal statutes has made every American an unwitting felon. That's one reason some prominent legal minds want House Republicans to make a simple rule change to subject new criminal laws to greater scrutiny.
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