Executive Branch Ethics and Financial Conflicts of Interest: Disqualification

"Newly proposed legislation in the 116th Congress concerns government ethics reform, including conflicts of interest among executive branch officials. Federal officials have a basic duty not to allow private gain to influence their government service, which includes “not hold[ing] financial interests that conflict with the conscientious performance of duty.” Federal statutes, as well as a code of conduct for executive branch employees, make this principle part of a federal regulatory scheme intended to prevent officials from benefiting personally from their offices. The current federal statutory scheme regulating conflicts between an official’s personal financial interests and his or her official duties has three prongs: disclosure, disqualification, and divestiture (i.e., a 3-D system). This discussion of the disqualification requirement, also known as recusal, is the second in a three-part series examining conflicts of interest in the executive branch.

Disqualification Requirements in the Executive Branch 

The principal disqualification statute for executive branch officials—18 U.S.C. § 208 (section 208)— imposes criminal penalties for executive branch officials who fail to recuse themselves when their official role would conflict with their financial interests. Section 208 broadly applies to “officers and employees” within executive branch agencies regardless of the officials’ seniority or rate of pay. It also expressly applies to special government employees (SGE) who serve in temporary or intermittent government roles. Although the statute was originally silent regarding its applicability to the President and Vice President, Congress later amended it to exclude those officials by definition..."
Executive banch ethics