After the Republican National Convention concluded last week, watchdog groups and others (see links below) began questioning President Trump’s decision to deliver his nomination acceptance speech from the South Lawn of The White House. Some were appalled by the decision, calling it a major ethical breach and a flagrant violation of the Hatch Act. Others say that the incumbent candidate’s use of official government property as a venue for campaign activities was perfectly permissible. A third undecided group questioned not the legality, but the propriety of the act. For this group, delivering a campaign speech at The White House was “problematic” and a break from tradition, but not prohibited. President Trump failed only at optics, they say, not ethics.
Regardless of your perspective or your interpretation of the law, events at the RNC have shined a spotlight on an important, but somewhat controversial law called the Hatch Act of 1939, An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities. Here’s what you need to know:
The Hatch Act of 1939, named for Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico, is a federal statute that prohibits certain federal employees (defined in 5 U.S. Code § 7322) from carrying out partisan political activities while on duty, in a government building, while wearing an official uniform or insignia, or while using an official vehicle.
The Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Special Counsel are responsible for enforcement of the Hatch Act.
The president and vice president are exempt from the Hatch Act, but federal civilian executive branch employees involved in the logistics or planning of a politically partisan activity are not. Advocates for enforcing Hatch Act provisions in the wake of the RNC argue this very point. They are calling for an investigation by the OSC into the role that executive branch civil servants may have played in assisting with arrangements for RNC events on government property.
Hatch Act in the News
Op-Ed: President Trump is blatantly violating the Hatch Act. Where’s the outrage? – Erwin Chemerinsky, Los Angeles Times, August 25, 2020
What Is the Hatch Act? Is Trump Violating It at the R.N.C.? – New York Times, August 26, 2020
Focus on Trump’s official White House actions as part of Republican convention programming raises Hatch Act concerns – The Washington Post, August 26, 2020
Trump Shatters Ethics Norms By Making Official Acts Part Of GOP Convention – NPR, August 26, 2020
There was nothing unlawful or improper about Trump's acceptance speech – David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey, The Hill, August 29, 2020
Hatch Act and Social Media
In response to questions from executive branch civil servants about the appropriate use of social media under the Hatch Act, the OSC prepared the Hatch Act Guidance on Social Media and the Hatch Act Social Media Quick Guide, which is reproduced here:
