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The U.S. government’s view of federal corruption statues is “very wrong,” lawyers for former Gov. Bob McDonnell argue in a brief filed two weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court will hear his appeal.

The lawyers for McDonnell, Virginia’s governor from 2010 to 2014, argue that the high court should reverse the appeals court decision, set aside his convictions, invalidate the honest-services statute and hold the Hobbs Act unconstitutional as applied.

“If Congress wants to vest unelected prosecutors with the extraordinary power to police state and local ethics, it must speak with far greater clarity than it has,” McDonnell’s lawyers write.

In September 2014, a Richmond jury convicted McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, on corruption counts stemming from their acceptance of more than $177,000 in gifts and loans from Jonnie R. Williams Sr., then-CEO of Star Scientific, in exchange for promoting the company’s dietary supplement, Anatabloc.

In late March, government lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the appeal of the former governor’s 11 corruption convictions in a challenge to be argued April 27. McDonnell’s challenge centers largely on what constitutes “official action” under federal bribery statutes.