Federal Manager's Daily Report

The Office of Government Ethics has issued a legal advisory to emphasize that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent holding regarding gift acceptance by public officials does not affect the general prohibitions on executive branch employees’ soliciting and accepting gifts from outside sources.

The McDonnell v. U.S. case hinged on the definition of an “official act” under laws governing bribery and illegal gratuities, the advisory says. The court, in overturning a conviction, ruled that such an act must involve a formal exercise of governmental power on a specific matter that is pending or may be brought before a public official.

The advisory notes, however, that federal ethics laws and rules further prohibit an employee from soliciting or accepting any gift, directly or indirectly, if the gift is given because of the employee’s official position or the party offering the gift is a prohibited source.

“There is no requirement for the gift to be made in connection with any ‘official act’ for these prohibitions to apply,” the advisory says. The prohibitions apply to anything having monetary value unless the item is excluded from the definition of “gift” or qualifies under one of the narrow exceptions, it says.

Nor does the high court’s ruling affect the legal interpretation of criminal conflict of interest statutes, it adds.