Trivia Question of the Day

Sometimes Being Vindicated Doesn’t Help At All

Why did SCOTUS overturn this company's obstruction of justice conviction?

Ed. note: Indulge your inner nerd! Welcome to our daily legal trivia question. Lawyerly types are, at heart, type-A personalities that thrive on learning random bits of (mostly) useless trivia. Enjoy!

In 2002, the accounting firm Arthur Andersen was convicted of obstruction of justice for shredding documents related to the Enron bankruptcy and scandal, and voluntarily surrendered its CPA license. However, in 2005, the conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court for what reason?

Hint: Despite ultimately being vindicated by SCOTUS, the damage to the firm’s reputation was overwhelming, though the entity still nominally exists.

Highlight the below text with your mouse for the answer.

Answer: Defects in the jury instructions. Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for a unanimous court, found the instructions too vague for a jury to find that obstruction actually occurred.