Prior to 1967, there were no legal restrictions on presidents appointing family members to jobs in the executive branch. However, that changed in 1967 when Congress included in the Postal Revenue and Federal Salary Act a section containing restrictions on government officials appointing family members to federal government jobs.
[3] That section of the act, commonly known as the Federal Anti-Nepotism Statute, states,
“ A public official may not appoint, employ, promote, advance, or advocate for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement, in or to a civilian position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the public official. An individual may not be appointed, employed, promoted, or advanced in or to a civilian position in an agency if such appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement has been advocated by a public official, serving in or exercising jurisdiction or control over the agency, who is a relative of the individual.
[4][5] ”
The statute defines a public official as “an officer (including the President and a Member of Congress), a member of the uniformed service, an employee and any other individual, in whom is vested the authority by law, rule, or regulation, or to whom the authority has been delegated, to appoint, employ, promote, or advance individuals, or to recommend individuals for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement in connection with employment in an agency.”
[4
In a 1993 ruling, Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit suggested the anti-nepotism statute might not apply to presidential appointments of White House personnel. In his decision in
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. v. Clinton, Silberman wrote,
“ Although [the statute] defines agency as 'an executive agency,' we doubt that Congress intended to include the White House or the Executive Office of the President. So, for example, a President would be barred from appointing his brother as Attorney General, but perhaps not as a White House special assistant.
[9][5] ”
Silberman was ruling on whether federal open meetings laws applied to the President's Task Force on National Health Care Reform created in 1993 by President Bill Clinton and chaired by First Lady Hillary Clinton.
[9] At issue in the case was whether Hillary Clinton, in her capacity as head of the task force, could be considered an employee of the federal government. Since the anti-nepotism statute was not at issue in the case, Silberman’s opinion had effect on its legal status.
Hillary Clinton’s appointment to the task force is the only instance of a president appointing a family member to a position in the executive branch since the passage of the anti-nepotism statute.
[3]
Ivanka and her husband are both looking at lawsuits for corruption --there are millions of dollars missing that they were responsible for that were used to poy family instead---so we shall see what happens after Jan21.
