Menendez asks appeals court to throw out charges
WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) asked an appeals court Monday to dismiss federal corruption charges against him, saying prosecutors violated constitutional protections in making their case.
WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) asked an appeals court Monday to dismiss federal corruption charges against him, saying prosecutors violated constitutional protections in making their case.
Menendez's filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, focuses largely on the Speech or Debate Clause, a piece of the Constitution that aims to shield lawmakers from executive branch pressure and protect them from criminal charges over their legislative work.
Menendez argues that many of the key actions and evidence cited in April's indictment should be exempt from prosecution.
A District Court judge was unconvinced by such arguments in September and dismissed Menendez's attempts to use those protections to gut the case.
But the senator's attorneys argue that the judge was wrong and asked the appeals panel to dismiss the corruption charges facing Menendez and Salomon Melgen, a friend and donor who is accused of bribing the senator with gifts and campaign donations.
Menendez's attorneys say prosecutors have no direct evidence - such as videos, emails, letters - to prove the alleged bribery scheme.
"Because there is no evidence of any corrupt agreement in this case," Menendez's filing says, the prosecution "is trying to do exactly what the Speech or Debate Clause forbids: rely on proof of legislative acts to prove alleged bribery."
Menendez is accused of accepting campaign money, private jet flights, and vacations from Melgen in exchange for using his office to help the South Florida eye doctor in an $8.9 million Medicare-billing fight, an overseas business dispute, and obtaining visas for girlfriends.
Menendez and Melgen have pleaded not guilty and vowed to be vindicated.
District Judge William H. Walls in Newark, N.J., previously ruled that Menendez's lobbying of the Obama administration on Melgen's behalf was not legislative activity and therefore not protected.
The senator's attorneys said in filings Monday that his actions were part of his work overseeing policy and were shielded under the separation of powers.
Prosecutors have said Menendez was trying to vastly expand the clause's protections. It "does not provide United States senators with a constitutional right to accept bribes," prosecutors wrote in an August filing.
Oral arguments on the appeal are tentatively scheduled for Feb. 29 in Philadelphia.
The appeal is more narrowly focused than the initial flurry of motions from Menendez's team, most of which were rejected.
Walls threw out four of the 22 corruption and bribery counts against Menendez and Melgen in September, but rejected the defense's most significant arguments, allowing the core components of the case to go forward.
Prosecutors have until early February to respond.
jtamari@phillynews.com @JonathanTamari www.philly.com/capitolinq
