Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday granted a stay application from former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. This decision means McDonnell, who was found guilty last year of 11 counts of corruption and sentenced to two years in federal prison, is allowed to remain free pending the possibility of a further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Roberts’ decision overrules the decision of a Richmond-based federal appeals court, which just under a week ago refused to allow McDonnell to remain free while he appeals his convictions. In fact, Roberts’ decision came to many as a surprise: when the appeals court ordered McDonnell to report to prison, legal experts deemed it unlikely that the Supreme Court would reverse this decision. Prior to the decision, Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, professed doubt over the possibility, and according to The Richmond-Times Dispatch, Charles E. James Jr., a Richmond lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said such requests from defendants are usually summarily denied by the Supreme Court.
When a U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a conviction, it is extremely unusual for a defendant to receive bail. For Roberts to intervene in this particular instance demonstrates the continued special privilege McDonnell has received over the course of his case. While Roberts did not comment on the merits of McDonnell’s appeal, and whether the Supreme Court will hear his appeal is yet to be determined, even this small act sets McDonnell’s experience apart from the vast majority of criminal defendants or convicts.
This is not to say McDonnell’s lawyers did not make strong arguments or that a request to stay out of prison pending appeal is illogical; it is simply that this decision further highlights the exceptional treatment high-profile individuals are given in our current justice system. McDonnell’s entire case, even though he is the first Virginia governor to be tried and convicted of corruption, has demonstrated the special privileges his title offers. Instead of receiving the U.S. probation office’s suggested 10 years and one month sentence or the six and a half to eight years and one month that federal sentencing guidelines suggest, McDonnell was only sentenced to two years in prison. Instead of entering prison at the required time — even after an appeals court ruled on it — an individual justice has intervened on McDonnell’s behalf.
While our court system should be lauded for holding this individual accountable, we should still be quick to point out these obvious, unfair privileges. There is nothing about McDonnell as a defendant that suggests he in particular deserves to stay out of prison after a federal court has ruled he must enter it.
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