Justice Management Division
Serving Justice - Securing Results

Most Employees May:

• Register and vote as they choose.
• Assist in voter registration drives.
• Express opinions on candidates and issues.
• Be a candidate for public office in non-partisan elections.
• Contribute money to political organizations, in general.
• Attend and be active at political rallies and meetings.
• Attend political fundraisers.
• Join and be an active member of a political party or club.
• Sign nominating petitions.
• Campaign for or against referendum questions, constitutional amendments and municipal ordinances.
• Distribute campaign literature in partisan elections.
• Make campaign speeches for candidates in partisan elections.
• Campaign for or against candidates in partisan elections.
• Hold office in political clubs and parties.

Most Employees May Not:

• Be a candidate in a partisan election.
• Engage in political activity while on duty, in a government office, while wearing an official uniform or using a government vehicle.
• Solicit political contributions from the general public or collect contributions except from a fellow member of a federal labor or employee organization who is not a subordinate.
• Solicit or discourage the political activity of anyone who has business with the Department.
• Use official authority or influence to interfere with an election.
• Wear political buttons while on duty.

5 C.F.R. § 734.101 - 702

Members of the career Senior Executive Service, Administrative Law Judges, employees of the Criminal Division, employees of the National Security Division, employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and all Criminal Investigators and Explosives Enforcement Officers in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are subject to stricter rules under the pre-1994 law whereby they are prohibited from participating actively in political management or political campaigns. As a matter of policy, the Attorney General has extended the restrictions of the pre-1994 law to all political appointees in the Department. Guidance to all Department employees is provided in two memoranda dated August 8, 2000, one to career employees and one to appointees.

While a Department policy allows personal use of most government equipment, including the Internet, the Hatch Act prohibits the use of government property for any political activities. By memorandum dated December 20, 1999, the Department addressed the issue of accessing political websites.

In certain communities, including the suburbs of Washington, D.C., but not Washington, D.C. itself, an employee may run as an independent candidate in a local partisan election and solicit and receive contributions. 5 C.F.R. § 733.101 - 107. An election is partisan if any candidate for an elected public office is running as a representative of a political party whose presidential candidate received electoral votes in the last presidential election.

Additional important information for Department of Justice employees is available on DOJNet, on the internal website of the Departmental Ethics Office.