Edwards violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, the government alleges, by encouraging two wealthy supporters to fork over more than $900,000 that was used to cover up his affair with a campaign aide who bore him a child.

The charge is, in essence, that Edwards violated the Seventh Commandment...It is dressed up, however, in the language of one of those many federal criminal statutes that are vague enough to cover a vast swath of human conduct