Although sponsorship of legislation falls within the "sphere of legitimate legislative activity," the United States Supreme Court has found that "[t]aking a bribe is, obviously, no part of the legislative process or function; it is not a legislative act (U.S. v. Brewster, 92 S. Ct. 2531, 2544 (1972)). In this hypothetical, because a successful bribery prosecution requires only proof that the accused legislator accepted money in exchange for a promise, fulfilled or unfulfilled, to sponsor a bill and does not require examination of the legislator's legislative action of actually sponsoring the legislation, legislative immunity does not prevent criminal prosecution of the legislator.
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