At a court appearance in Manhattan in April, Judge Keenan said he was not assuming that Mr. Meskini was guilty of the violations.
If Clemson is found guilty of the violations, the school could be placed on probation for the second time in less than 10 years.
Representative Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat who was elected in 2006 with Mr. Rangel's support, was one of the members of the ethics committee who voted to find Mr. Rangel guilty of the violations for which he was censured.
Finding him guilty of the violations without issuing a financial penalty, they wrote to the panel, would "serve as nothing more than empty words on paper".
The defendants' defense, therefore, was that all the overages paid to Shotwell by Lubben and his companies were paid out by Shotwell for raw corn and that, since the unreported income was virtually offset by unreported expenses, they were not guilty of the tax violations charged.
Assuming for this purpose that the defendant was guilty of a violation of the laws over a period of years, and in transacting business upon so large a scale, as shown in this case, we are not prepared to say, after confirmation of the verdict and judgment in courts of the state, that there was want of due process of law in the penalties assessed.
It also presents a dilemma for the vast number of lawmakers who are guilty of the same ethical violation that Mr. Gudkov is accused of.
If he allowed the tables to be used for hire, he would be guilty of a violation of the ordinance, and, of course, be subject to prosecution and punishment in the same way, and to the same extent, as the defendant.
