U.S. Office of Government Ethics
1201 New York Ave., NW
Suite 500
Washington, DC  20005-3917

                                  August 6, 2007
                                  DO-07-024



MEMORANDUM

TO:	 Designated Agency Ethics Officials 

FROM:	 Robert I. Cusick
	 Director

SUBJECT: New OLC Opinion on the Emoluments Clause and Service on
         Advisory Boards


The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice has
just posted a recent opinion on its web page providing further
guidance on the applicability of the Emoluments Clause of the
United States Constitution to service on advisory boards.  The
Emoluments Clause, Article I, § 9, clause 8 of the Constitution,
prohibits persons who "hold offices of profit or trust" in the
Federal Government from having any position in or receiving any
payment from a foreign government, except with the consent of
Congress.  OLC has now opined in Re: Application of the Emoluments
Clause to a Member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Director’s Advisory Board (June 15,2007) available at
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/2007/fbi_advisory_board_opinion_061507.pdf
that where members of an advisory board are given access to
classified information solely to help them perform their advisory
function, this access alone does not constitute a delegation of
Governmental, sovereign authority that would result in their
advisory board service falling under the restrictions of the
Emoluments Clause.   This OLC opinion clarifies the issue of access
to classified information that was left open in the earlier OLC
opinion of Re: Application of the Emoluments Clause to a Member of
the President’s Council on Bioethics (March 9,2005) available at
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/2005/050309_emoluments_clause.pdf.