Government ethics rules aim to ensure that officials act in the public interest rather than their own. Most modern rules were written after Watergate, when Congress created financial disclosure requirements and the Office of Government Ethics. Each branch has its own system, and enforcement varies widely.
This guide explains the main rules for executive officials, Congress, and judges, the constitutional emoluments clauses, and the controversies over how ethics rules are applied.
The President and Vice President are exempt from the main conflict-of-interest law, though Presidents since the 1970s generally placed assets in blind trusts or diversified holdings. The Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause bars officials from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments without Congress's consent, and the Domestic Emoluments Clause bars the President from receiving other compensation from the federal government or states. Lawsuits over presidential business interests in the late 2010s were dismissed after the term ended. In 2025 and 2026 family business ventures and the acceptance of a foreign government's aircraft for presidential use renewed the debate, with supporters saying the arrangements were lawful and critics calling them conflicts.
The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires the President, Vice President, members of Congress, federal judges, and senior executive officials to file annual public reports listing assets, income, liabilities, gifts, and outside positions, generally within broad value ranges. Nominees file reports before confirmation and often sign ethics agreements promising to divest assets or recuse from certain matters. Lower-level employees file confidential reports. The Office of Government Ethics, created by the act, oversees the executive branch system.
Federal criminal law bars executive branch employees from participating personally in matters affecting their own financial interests or those of their spouses, children, or organizations they work with, unless they receive a waiver. Officials often sell conflicting holdings or place them in qualified blind trusts. Standards of conduct generally bar accepting gifts from people with business before the agency, with small exceptions for items worth 20 dollars or less. Officials also may not use their positions for private gain or endorse products.
Lower federal judges follow a Code of Conduct adopted by the Judicial Conference and must recuse themselves when their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. After reports about undisclosed gifts and travel involving some justices, the Supreme Court adopted its own code of conduct in November 2023, but each justice decides his or her own recusals, and no body enforces the code. Supporters of stronger ethics rules call for binding enforcement, stock bans, and independent investigators, while others argue that existing rules are adequate and that new restrictions could be used for partisan attacks.
The House and Senate write and enforce their own ethics rules through ethics committees, and the House also has an independent office that reviews complaints and refers cases. Members face limits on gifts, travel, and outside income. The STOCK Act of 2012 requires members and senior officials to report stock trades within 45 days. After years of controversy over trading by lawmakers, the House passed a bill in July 2026, by 232 to 198, barring members, spouses, and dependent children from buying new shares of individual companies, and sent it to the Senate. On September 30, 2026, a Senate motion to advance a similar bill failed, 53 to 47, short of the 60 votes needed.
Former officials face restrictions on lobbying their former colleagues: a one-year cooling-off period for senior employees, two years for very senior officials, and a lifetime ban on working on the same specific matters they handled. Former members of Congress may not lobby Congress for one year, or two years for senators. Presidents have often added stricter limits through ethics pledges signed by appointees, but those pledges change with each administration. Critics say the movement of officials between government and industry gives some interests outsized access.
See who enforces these rules in federal watchdogs, learn about influence on policy in lobbying explained, or see the political activity rules in the Hatch Act explained.