DOJ Grants Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar Five SCOTUS Ethics Waivers Allowing Her to Work on High-Profile Cases
- February 11, 2022
Katabella Roberts, The Epoch Times
The Justice Department has waived ethics rules to allow Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar to work on a number of high-profile cases before the Supreme Court that could have huge implications for abortion and gun rights laws, according to documents filed with the Office of Government Ethics.
Prelogar, who is the federal government’s chief advocate before the Supreme Court, was granted ethics waivers that would allow her to work on five Supreme Court cases involving her former law firm, Cooley LLP, or its clients.
According to Protect the Public’s Trust, which tracks the Biden administration ethics waivers, “ethics responsibilities are an important aspect of public service” and such rules regarding ethics “ensure public officials are not using their positions of public trust for private gain for themselves or those around them, such as former employers.”
They also serve to maintain public confidence that the government is “not making decisions arbitrarily or based on inappropriate biases.”
But on occasion, public servants are granted waivers from those strict ethics requirements which enable them to work on matters that may involve former employers or others with whom the public servant has a “covered relationship”; someone with whom they have a close relationship or business relationship or are seeking such.