[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] filed a motion to dismiss corruption charges [motion, PDF] against Senator Bob Menendez [official profile], with the US District Court for the District of New Jersey [official website] Wednesday.

The motion cited the court’s dismissal last week [JURIST report] of 7 out of 18 government charges.

This was the DOJ’s second attempt to convict Menendez on the charges. In November 2017 a judge declared a mistrial [JURIST report] after the jury ended in a 10-2 deadlock in favor of acquittal.

The democratic senator from New Jersey was charged in 2015 with multiple counts of bribery, fraud, violating the Travel Act and making false statements to government officials.

Future prosecution of elected officials for corruption may be more difficult [[LA Times report] due to the Supreme Court’s [official website] 2016 decision in McDonnell v. United States [SCOTUSblog materials].