Federal Restrictions on the Political Activity of Government Employees

In: American political science review, Band 35, Heft 3, S. 470-489

Abstract

At various times in the past, the question of the extent to which political activity on the part of government officers and employees should be curtailed has been a subject of public discussion. Within the past two years, the question has arisen again in connection with the passage by Congress of what is popularly known as the Hatch Act. The purpose of the present article is to point out the principal restrictions imposed by this new, as well as by earlier, federal legislation upon the political activity of individual government employees. These restrictions are of three types: (1) those relating to political contributions and solicitation, (2) those relating to political office-holding, and (3) those relating to political activity generally. Each of these types will be discussed, first, in relation to federal employees, and second, in relation to employees of state and local governments.