The U.S. Supreme Court may have settled the limits of a federal law that former Virginia attorneys general from both political parties say the Justice Department abused in order to convict former Gov. Bob McDonnell of corruption for actions they described as political commonplace.
But the unanimous decision also may have reopened debate among state lawmakers on how to legislate ethical conduct in the shadow of behavior by McDonnell that even his strongest defenders acknowledge was “not pretty.”
“There is a difference between what may be considered in hindsight as bad judgment and what can be considered to be a criminal act,” said state Sen. William M. Stanley Jr., R-Franklin.
