But today I'm here to talk to you about Nepotism, which is defined as "the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs."
Speaking of relatives... as the daughter of an attorney and former legal secretary, following is my amateur legal opinion and interpretation of law as it relates to Donald Trump's plan to give his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a high profile position as "Chief Adviser" in his upcoming (and hopefully short-lived) administration.
It appears to be the position of Trump, Kushner, and their legal counsel, that if Jared isn't paid, there is no violation of law.
Restrictions on employing relatives are found in 5 U.S. Code §3110.
(a) For the purpose of this section—
(2) “public official” means 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; and
(3) “relative” means, with respect to a public official, an individual who is related to the public official as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, or half sister.
(b) 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.
(c) An individual appointed, employed, promoted, or advanced in violation of this section is not entitled to pay, and money may not be paid from the Treasury as pay to an individual so appointed, employed, promoted, or advanced.
(d) The Office of Personnel Management may prescribe regulations authorizing the temporary employment, in the event of emergencies resulting from natural disasters or similar unforeseen events or circumstances, of individuals whose employment would otherwise be prohibited by this section.
(e) This section shall not be construed to prohibit the appointment of an individual who is a preference eligible in any case in which the passing over of that individual on a certificate of eligibles furnished under section 3317(a) of this title will result in the selection for appointment of an individual who is not a preference eligible.
Paragraph (a)(2) lists the President as a public official, and paragraph (a)(3) includes both daughter and son-in-law as relatives. Kushner and his team will likely allege that if he draws no pay, it is an exception or loophole to the law, since he would technically not be employed.
However, I posit they are wrong for several reasons.
Paragraph (c) says that if there is a violation (by hiring a relative), that relative is not entitled to pay. Let me repeat that. Hiring Kushner would be a violation, ergo illegal.
Intentional violation of Federal law is an Impeachable offense.
Those who drafted the law were clear when they wrote "may not" in paragraph (b). They didn't include the caveat, "may not... unless he's not paid."
Paragraph (c) refers only to when a violation occurs. Therefore, we must conclude that hiring Kushner is a violation, regardless of whether or not he is paid.
Now let's go further. The FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) mandates pay of at least minimum wage. Kushner cannot accept a job without pay, because Trump would be violating labor laws as well.
I believe this puts Trump and his family in a lose-lose scenario. The law (5 U.S. Code § 3110) is clearly written. Trump is prohibited from hiring his daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared.
Similarly, they are prohibited from working without pay. Whichever angle they try, Trump will be breaking Federal Law. And that will provide us with grounds to Impeach Trump.
Can Senators also be Impeached? Why, yes they can.
On a tangential note, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said publicly that he refuses to recuse himself during the confirmation process of Elaine Chou, nominee for Secretary of Transportation. Why is this a problem? Ms. Chou happens to be his wife. If McConnell participates in the process, he will also be in direct violation of Federal law, and should be prosecuted and Impeached from the Senate.
Here is the link to my Twitter thread (preceded this blog post) about Trump and Nepotism.
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