If you read this, I'll give you $5000...maybe.

I went to law school because I wanted to understand how the law limits government power, and how it enables the people to hold government accountable. With the midterms coming, I'm posting a series on laws that feel relevant to current events and are related to the limits of government power. Today's entry is 18 U.S.C. § 597. It criminalizes anyone who "makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person…to vote for or against any candidate." Courts have generally read vote-buying laws like 18 U.S.C. § 597 to cover inducements to vote a certain way, whether or not the payment is guaranteed or contingent on an outcome. I’d like to pose a totally made-up hypothetical for us to consider: a sitting president promises every adult citizen $5,000, but only if his party wins the House and Senate. Does this violate the law? Here's what's clever about the offer in the hypo: offering a dividend to every adult citizen if a party wins an election probably isn't a payment conditioned on how any…