Special Government Employee Serving as Paid Consultant to Saudi Company

Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel·Decided January 13, 2016·Published

Opinion

Special Government Employee Serving as Paid Consultant to Saudi Company A special government employee, retained to provide advice on behalf of the Department of Commerce to Middle Eastern countries that are reforming and harmonizing their laws, may accept a paid consulting position with a Saudi energy company without violating the Emoluments Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 8, because he does not hold an “Office of Profit or Trust under” the United States.

January 13, 2016

MEMORANDUM OPINION FOR THE ASSISTANT GENERAL COUNSEL ADMINISTRATION AND TRANSACTIONS DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Your Office has asked whether the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution would bar a special government employee of the Department of Commerce (“Department”) from accepting a paid consulting position with a Saudi entity known as the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (“KA-CARE”). See Memorandum for Karl Remón Thompson , Acting Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, from Barbara S. Fredericks, Assistant General Counsel for Administration, Department of Commerce, Re: Applicability of Emoluments Clause to a Special Government Employee (May 16, 2014) (“Commerce Memo”). The Emoluments Clause forbids anyone “holding any Office of Profit or Trust under” the United States from accepting, without congressional consent, “any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 8. We orally advised your Office that the special government employee in question may accept the consulting position without violating the Emoluments Clause, because, on the facts described to us, he does not hold an “Office of Profit or Trust under” the United States. This memorandum opinion memorializes and further describes the basis for our advice. 1

1 Because we conclude that the employee in question does not hold an “Office of Profit or Trust under” the United States, we do not address in this memorandum opinion whether KA-CARE is an instrumentality of the Saudi Government, and thus whether the compensation and position the special government employee would receive from KA-CARE

40 Op. O.L.C. 1 (2016)

I.

Your Office has explained that one of the Department’s special government employees wishes to accept a paid consulting position with KA- CARE. 2 The Department hired the employee as an expert in the Commercial Law Development Program, a division of the Department that “helps achieve U.S. foreign policy goals by providing technical assistance (such as capability building, peer-to-peer best practices awareness, and empowerment of civil society organizations) to developing and post-conflict countries in helping to establish commercial legal reforms.” Commerce Memo at 1; see also About CLDP, http://cldp.doc.gov/about-cldp (last visited Jan. 11, 2016). The employee, who is both an attorney and a scholar in Sharia law, assists the Commercial Law Development Program in its collaborations with Middle Eastern countries that are reforming and harmonizing their laws. Commerce Memo at 1. His duties are to “revise, update and build capacity to harmonize relevant laws and regulations so that they may help attract responsible international investment to the region,” and to “provide legal expertise and advice to countries” in a manner that is sensitive to those countries’ cultural norms. Id. The employee ’s assignments have included speaking at colloquia and seminars in the Middle East and reviewing proposed commercial laws for consistency with local customs, cultural sensitivities, and religious norms. Jacobi E-mail. The employee does not have discretionary authority to disburse federal funds or property. Commerce Memo at 1. Nor does he formulate federal policy, supervise other federal employees, or have access to classified materials. Id.

The Department hired the special government employee for a one-year term that may, but need not, be renewed, and for duties to be performed on an intermittent rather than full-time basis. Id.; see also 18 U.S.C.

would be an “Emolument [or] Office . . . of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

2 We describe KA-CARE in more detail below. For facts regarding KA-CARE, the

Department’s Commercial Law Development Program, and the responsibilities of the special government employee at issue, we rely chiefly on information submitted to us by the Department. See Commerce Memo; E-mail for Jane Nitze, Attorney-Adviser, Office of Legal Counsel, from Will Jacobi, Senior Attorney, Department of Commerce, Re: Emoluments question (Apr. 28, 2014, 8:55 AM) (“Jacobi E-mail”).

Special Government Employee Serving as Paid Consultant to Saudi Company

§ 202(a) (defining “special Government employee” to include “an officer or employee of the executive . . . branch of the United States Government . . . who is retained, designated, appointed, or employed to perform, with or without compensation, for not to exceed one hundred and thirty days during any period of three hundred and sixty-five consecutive days, temporary duties either on a full-time or intermittent basis”). He receives assignments from the Commercial Law Development Program, with the length of an assignment generally varying from an hour to several days. Commerce Memo at 1; Jacobi E-mail. The employee is compensated at an hourly rate, files financial disclosure forms, and took an oath of office. Commerce Memo at 1.

KA-CARE was established by Saudi royal decree as an independent legal entity with the “aim of building a sustainable future for Saudi Arabia by developing a substantial alternative energy capacity fully supported by world-class local industries.” The Establishing Order, https:// www.kacare.gov.sa/en/about/Pages/royalorder.aspx (last visited Jan. 11, 2016); see also Commerce Memo at 1. The entity is substantially funded by the Saudi Government. Commerce Memo at 1. Its “highest authority” is the “supreme council,” composed largely of high-ranking government officials, whose role is to “supervise and undertake the affairs” of KA- CARE and to “take all necessary decisions to achieve the purposes of the City.” Royal Decree Establishing King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy 6 (Feb. 2010) (“Royal Decree”), https://www.kacare. gov.sa/en/about/Documents/KACARE_Royal_Decree_english.pdf. Three senior executive officials—a president and two vice presidents—lead KA-CARE’s day-to-day activities. Id.; Leadership, https://www.kacare. gov.sa/en/about/Pages/highmanagement.aspx (last visited Jan. 7, 2016); see also Commerce Memo at 1. The three senior executive officials are appointed by royal decree, see Royal Decree at 6; Commerce Memo at 1, but are not considered Saudi government officials under Saudi law, Commerce Memo at 1.

II.

The Emoluments Clause provides that “no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind

40 Op. O.L.C. 1 (2016)

whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 8. As we recently explained, “[t]he Clause was intended to ‘preserv[e] foreign Ministers & other officers of the U.S. independent of external influence’ by foreign governments.” NOAA Employee’s Receipt of the Göteborg Award for Sustainable Development, 34 Op. O.L.C. 210, 211 (2010) (second alteration in original) (quoting 2 The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, at 389 (Max Farrand ed., rev. ed. 1966) (notes of James Madison)).

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