Reading Room Document

Application of 18 U.S.C. § 207(a) to Pardon Recommendation Made by Former Prosecutor

This opinion reivews 18 U.S.C. § 207(a), which prohibits a former employee of the Executive Branch from communicating to the government, on behalf of anyone else, regarding specific matters in which he participated personally and substantially during their government service. The opinion concludes that section 207(a) does not apply to a former Antitrust Division attorney (name redacted) who submitted an affidavit to the President in support of a pardon for an individual whom the attorney prosecuted several years ago. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at https://justice.gov/olc/page/file/936171/download.

October 17, 1990