As Washington continues to bombard the public with political rhetoric about the government shutdown, some law experts argue these messages could be breaking a law put in place to prohibit political sway by the executive branch.
The Hatch Act prevents officials from using their authority to politicize the federal workplace, and it ensures non-partisan administration of government programs.
Delaney Marsco, director of ethics for the Campaign Legal Center, said things like government websites displaying messages that blame one political party for the government shutdown are skirting the line of Hatch Act violations.
"Specifically mentioning a political party, kind of targeting a political party," said Marsco, "does come a little bit closer to that definition of what political activity is."
Marsco emphasized that enforcement challenges of the Hatch Act, particularly for senior officials supervised by the president.
She explains lower-level employees often face disciplinary action for violations but senior officials rarely do, creating an accountability gap at the highest levels of government.
About 18,000 federal government employees in Wisconsin could be impacted by the shutdown and potential layoffs.
Marsco emphasized the importance of public awareness of laws like the Hatch Act as trust in the federal government falls to an all-time low.
A recent Gallup poll shows only one in three Americans trusts the federal government to act in society’s best interest, regardless of political affiliation.
"The whole ethics system – from like, conflicts of interest laws, to the Hatch Act," said Marsco, "all of that exists to try and create an ecosystem where political coercion doesn't exist."
Marsco said she’s concerned about the systematic dismantling of these ethics guardrails, pointing to the firing of inspectors general or threats to defund oversight offices as examples.
"The more awareness the public has about the guardrails that are in place, they can hopefully understand that it doesn't have to be this way," said Marsco. "There are things in place and they need to be enforced better, they need to be made stronger by Congress."
