Skilling and the Supreme Court

The WSJ just reported that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that at least part of Skilling's conviction in the Enron fraud case needs a closer look. The article is quite short right now but the key quote is as follows:

The justices sent the cases back to two different lower courts to determine whether portions of Skilling and Black's convictions should be thrown out.

An AP news release explained further that:

The court said Thursday that the "honest services" law could not be used in convicting Skilling for his role in the collapse of Enron. But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her majority opinion that the ruling does not necessarily require Skilling's conviction to be overturned.

During arguments on this case last December, several justices seemed inclined to limit prosecutors' use of this law, which critics have said is vague and has been used to make a crime out of mistakes and minor transgressions in the business and political world.

The court, at the same time, rejected Skilling's claim that he did not get a fair trial in Houston because of harshly critical publicity that surrounded the case in Enron's hometown.