Another Disgraced Politician Seeks Supreme Court Clemency

Former Conn. Gov. John G. Rowland hopes that the Supreme Court will look kindly on him, much as they did for a fellow Republican governor who was also convicted of corruption, Bob McDonnell of Virginia, in June. McConnell’s corruption charges were overturned by the Court, which effectively raised the bar for such convictions in its ruling. Afterward, Rowland fired his legal team, secured new representation, and is now seeking to get a high court review of his case. Rowland has been convicted twice of corruption-related charges. Most recently in 2014, a federal jury in New Haven found him guilty of seven crimes related to negotiating or creating fake business contracts to hide his role as paid consultant to other congressional campaigns. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld those convictions in June, and sentenced Rowland to two-and-a-half years in prison.