--- title: Tom DeLay Celebrates 'New Life' Following Court Win description: Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay beat back money-laundering charges in Texas’ highest criminal court Wednesday. canonical: https://time.com/3457152/tom-delay-court/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-02T18:33:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:33:25.921Z article:section: Politics og:title: Tom DeLay Celebrates 'New Life' Following Court Win og:description: Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay beat back money-laundering charges in Texas’ highest criminal court Wednesday. og:url: https://time.com/3457152/tom-delay-court/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ba3b41fb1578869/6986a6b53bc9995fed1a5ad3/tom-delay.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4784 og:image:height: 2691 og:image:alt: Tom Delay og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tom DeLay Celebrates 'New Life' Following Court Win twitter:description: Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay beat back money-laundering charges in Texas’ highest criminal court Wednesday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ba3b41fb1578869/6986a6b53bc9995fed1a5ad3/tom-delay.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tom DeLay Celebrates 'New Life' Following Court Win > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Oct 2, 2014 6:33 PM UTC  Former Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, talks with reporters after a lunch meeting of the Texas Republicans in the capitol on the day his conviction for corruption was overturned by a Texas appeals court. Former Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, talks with reporters after a lunch meeting of the Texas Republicans in the capitol on the day his conviction for corruption was overturned by a Texas appeals court. Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call,Inc. by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Oct 2, 2014 6:33 PM UTC After former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay beat back money-laundering charges in Texas’ highest criminal court Wednesday, he drove with his family and friends to Willie’s Grill & Ice House in Sugar Land for a burger, fries and onion rings. “Are you kidding me,” asked DeLay, laughing, when asked how he’s doing. “I feel great.” DeLay has waited a long time to be removed from the yoke of legal troubles. In 2005, DeLay stepped down from his Majority Leader post after a Texas grand jury indicted him on charges that he improperly funneled donations to Texas House candidates. On Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld an earlier ruling throwing out his conviction in 2010\. DeLay has also weathered various ethics charges raised against him by Democrats in [1996](http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/10/us/2-face-ethics-charges-by-nader-unit.html) and 1998 as well as and a federal lawsuit accusing the then-Majority Whip of racketeering in 2000. DeLay told TIME that his legal fees for “all of that” is “well over $12 million.” Unsurprisingly, DeLay blames the Democrats for his downfall, arguing that they exploited a “stupid” Republican Party law that requires members to give up leadership posts if they are indicted. “This is part of the criminalization of politics that the left is very much involved in,” he says. “It’s not just me—They did it to \[Texas\] Gov. Rick Perry, I contend they did it to \[Virginia\] Gov. Bob McDonnell, they’re trying to do it \[Wisconsin\] Gov. Scott Walker and many others.” The legal battles haven’t sapped his enthusiasm for politics, however. When asked if he would consider running for office, DeLay left the door open. “I don’t know what the Lord has for me,” he said. “I’m just excited about my new life. And I can get on with it.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3457152/tom-delay-court/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3457152/tom-delay-court/"},"headline":"Tom DeLay Celebrates 'New Life' Following Court Win","datePublished":"2014-10-02T18:33:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:33:25.921Z","description":"He started by picking up a burger and fries","url":"https://time.com/3457152/tom-delay-court/","keywords":["Politicians","Congress","Crime","Courts","justice"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ba3b41fb1578869/6986a6b53bc9995fed1a5ad3/tom-delay.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ba3b41fb1578869/6986a6b53bc9995fed1a5ad3/tom-delay.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tom Delay","caption":"Tom Delay","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call,Inc.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politicians/","name":"Politicians"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3457152/tom-delay-court/","name":"Tom DeLay Celebrates 'New Life' Following Court Win"}}]}] ```