Dixson v. United States (465 U.S. 482)

U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 22, 1984 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)

Citation
465 U.S. 482 · 104 S. Ct. 1172
Decided
February 22, 1984
Term
October Term 1983
Vote
5–4
Majority author
Justice Marshall
Issue area
Economic Activity
Disposition
Affirmed
Outcome
Petitioning party lost
Ideological direction
Liberal

Opinion excerpt

Justice Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court. These consolidated cases present the question whether officers of a private, nonprofit corporation administering and expending federal community development block grants are “public officials” for purposes of the federal bribery statute. 18 U. S. C. § 201(a). I In 1979, the city of Peoria received two federal block grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The first was a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant; the second a $638,000 Metro Reallocation Grant. Both grants were funded through the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (HCDA), 88 Stat. 633, as amended, 42 U. S. C. §§5301-5320 (1976 ed. and Supp. V). Under that Act, the Secretary of HUD is authorized to dispense federal block grants to state and local governments and nonprofit community organizations for urban renewal programs such as the rehabilitation of residential structures, code enforcement in deteriorating areas, and the construction of public works projects. The city of Peoria subsequently designated United Neighborhoods, Inc. (UNI), a community-based, social-service organization, to be the city’s subgrantee in charge of the administration of the federal block grant funds. UNI in turn hired petitioner Dixson to serve as the corporation’s Executive Director and petitioner Hinton as its Housing Rehabilitation…

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