U.S. Attorneys

U.S. Attorneys are prohibited from actively participating in Hatch Act partisan political activities. The Attorney General has sent policy memorandums and made restrictions similar to those imposed by statute on all federal employees before the Hatch Act Reform Amendments of 1993. For example, U.S. attorneys cannot speak at political functions or actively participate in fund-raising. With Department of Justice (DOJ) approval, they can attend fund-raisers and they can contribute to candidates, so long as their donation is not promoted. There have been no investigations of Hatch Act violations since 1995, according to DOJ officials. In January 2000, DOJ began tracking U.S. Attorney Office inquiries for advice and approval about issue-oriented political activities. In May 2000, DOJ revised the U.S. Attorneys' Manual to include DOJ approval before advocating passage or defeat of state or local legislation, the need to be sensitive to public perception of the proper role, and the limits of federal prosecutors. Over the years, Congress has restricted the use of federal funds for political activities.

GAO noted that: (1) U.S. Attorneys are prohibited from actively participating in Hatch Act partisan political activities; (2) generally, many restrictive provisions applicable to U.S. Attorneys are not imposed by the Hatch Act; (3) rather, they have been established under the Attorney General's discretionary authority and are documented in Attorney General policy memorandums; (4) these restrictions are similar to those that were imposed by statute on all federal employees before the Hatch Act Reform Amendments of 1993; (5) DOJ does not maintain or track data on U.S. Attorneys' participation in Hatch Act partisan political activities; (6) DOJ officials said that they are not aware of any violations of Attorney General restrictions related to the Hatch Act, since at least January 1995; (7) regarding issue-oriented political activities, before May 2000, DOJ rules and policies--as contained in the U.S. Attorneys' Manual--primarily addressed U.S. Attorneys' direct interaction with state and local legislative bodies; (8) in May 2000, DOJ revised the U.S. Attorneys' Manual to provide additional guidance and oversight related to public communications; (9) a new section to the manual--incorporating advice that previously had been given orally--discusses the need to be sensitive to comity considerations; (10) before January 2000, DOJ did not maintain or track data on the issue-oriented political activities of U.S. Attorneys at that the state or local level; (11) DOJ began to track U.S. Attorney Office inquiries related to such activities in January 2000; (12) DOJ's summaries of inquiries show that from January 19, 2000, to March 22, 2000, U.S. Attorney Offices contacted DOJ nine times for advice or approval regarding activities that involved or could potentially involve state or local legislative matters; (13) according to DOJ officials, beginning in May 2000, all activities that require prior DOJ approval under the revised U.S. Attorneys' Manual will be tracked; (14) over the years, Congress has imposed various restrictions on the use of federal funds for certain political activities; and (15) the restrictions applicable to DOJ have been construed to prohibit: (a) grass-roots lobbying in the form of agency appeals to the public to contact members of Congress in support of or in opposition to pending legislation; (b) publicity of a nature tending to emphasize an agency's own importance; and (c) covert propaganda activities.