Cases on Corruption
CORRUPTION OF AUTHORITY:


Burton v. United States , 202 U.S. 344, 26 S. Ct. 688 50 L.Ed 1057 United States Senator convicted of, among other things, bribery.



BUTZ v. ECONOMOU, 438 U.S. 478 (1978)

United States v. Lee, 106 U.S. at 220, 1 S. Ct. at 261 (1882)

"No man [or woman] in this country is so high that he is above the law. No officer of the law may set that law at defiance with impunity. All the officers of the government from the highest to the lowest, are creatures of the law, and are bound to obey it."



*Cannon v. Commission on Judicial Qualifications, (1975) 14 Cal. 3d 678, 694

Acts in excess of judicial authority constitutes misconduct, particularly where a judge deliberately disregards the requirements of fairness and due process.

*Geiler v. Commission on Judicial Qualifications, (1973) 10 Cal.3d 270, 286

Society's commitment to institutional justice requires that judges be solicitous of the rights of persons who come before the court.



*Gonzalez v. Commission on Judicial Performance, (1983) 33 Cal. 3d 359, 371, 374

Acts in excess of judicial authority constitutes misconduct, particularly where a judge deliberately disregards the requirements of fairness and due process.



Olmstad v. United States , (1928) 277 U.S. 438

"Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."



OWEN v. CITY OF INDEPENDENCE , 445 U.S. 622 (1980)

'The innocent individual who is harmed by an abuse of governmental authority is assured that he will be compensated for his injury."



Perry v. United States , 204 U.S. 330, 358

"I do not understand the government to contend that it is any less bound by the obligation than a private individual would be..."

"It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error."



*Ryan v. Commission on Judicial Performance, (1988) 45 Cal. 3d 518, 533

Before sending a person to jail for contempt or imposing a fine, judges are required to provide due process of law, including strict adherence to the procedural requirements contained in the Code of Civil Procedure. Ignorance of these procedures is not a mitigating but an aggravating factor.



U.S. v. Lee, 106 U.S. 196, 220 1 S. Ct. 240, 261, 27 L. Ed 171 (1882)

"No man in this country is so high that he is above the law. No officer of the law may set that law at defiance, with impunity. All the officers of the government, from the highest to the lowest, are creatures of the law are bound to obey it."

"It is the only supreme power in our system of government, and every man who, by accepting office participates in its functions, is only the more strongly bound to submit to that supremacy, and to observe the limitations which it imposes on the exercise of the authority which it gives."



Warnock v. Pecos County , Texas, 88 F3d 341 (5th Cir. 1996)

Eleventh Amendment does not protect state officials from claims for prospective relief when it is alleged that state officials acted in violation of federal law.