Joseph Percoco, Petitioner v. United States, et al.

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the jury received an incorrect legal instruction for deciding when a private citizen owes the public honest services. The Court reversed the Second Circuit and sent Percoco's case back for further proceedings.

The Court ruled 9-0 in an opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Brett M. Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined; Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a concurrence, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas.

Majority

Alito

Roberts

Sotomayor

Kagan

Kavanaugh

Barrett

Jackson

Gorsuch

Thomas

“The Court said it was error to instruct the jury using the Second Circuit's Margiotta standard for when a private citizen owes the government honest services.”

The decision limits the use of a rule that treated informal political influence or “de facto control” as enough to create a public duty. It affects private people who advise or influence government officials and prosecutors pursuing honest-services fraud cases.

The case returns to the lower courts, which must apply the Supreme Court's decision in further proceedings. Prosecutors and courts must account for the rejected instruction in similar honest-services fraud cases.

The Court unanimously rejected the jury instruction based on the Second Circuit's Margiotta standard and sent the case back to the lower courts.

Private individuals with informal influence over government and prosecutors bringing honest-services fraud cases are directly affected by the decision.

The lower courts will reconsider the case under the Supreme Court's decision. Further proceedings must not rely on the rejected jury instruction.