A federal prosecution that put a Cincinnati city councilman in prison — not for taking cash, not for personal enrichment, but for accepting a lawful, publicly disclosed campaign donation from people who shared his stated policy views — has now been repudiated by two branches of the federal government.

The Supreme Court unanimously ordered the Sixth Circuit to vacate its prior ruling. President Trump issued a full and unconditional pardon. Yet the charging theory that made P.G. Sittenfeld a federal inmate still stands — ready to be used again.

Said the federal prosecutor, on the record, when the trial judge asked whether policy agreement plus campaign donation was enough to send a case to a jury: "I think that would be right."