A Justice Department memo now allows Senate-confirmed political appointees to take part in campaigns in their personal capacities. Covered activities include speaking at rallies, canvassing for votes, and serving as delegates or officers of a national political party. The guidance applies to senior officials including the attorney general, deputy attorney general, assistant attorneys general, the FBI director, and U.S. attorneys. It exempts these appointees from stricter rules that still apply to some department employees, including administrative law judges and Criminal Division staff. The memo does not state a specific rationale or identify new forms, fees, enforcement steps, or deadlines, leaving the personal-capacity distinction as the central boundary.
TLDR: A new Justice Department memo permits senior Senate-confirmed appointees to campaign personally, including by speaking at rallies or canvassing. Stricter political activity limits remain for some other employees, and the memo does not specify new forms, fees, or compliance deadlines.
The Justice Department has changed the rules for political activity by its highest-ranking presidential appointees. A memo sent this week says Senate-confirmed appointees may take part in partisan campaigns in their personal capacities. Attorney General Todd Blanche and other senior officials now have clearer permission to speak at rallies, canvass for votes, and serve as delegates or officers of a national political party.
The memo does not give a specific public rationale for the change. Its practical effect is plain: it separates the rules for Senate-confirmed political leaders from the stricter limits applied to some other department employees. That distinction replaces a broad restraint with a defined category of permitted activity. The guidance does not say that all Justice Department employees may take part in the same political activities.
The guidance was sent by Assistant Attorney General Jolene Ann Laurie. It applies to the attorney general, deputy attorney general, assistant attorneys general, the FBI director, U.S. attorneys, and others. The permission depends on the officials acting in their personal capacities, rather than presenting campaign activity as official department business.
That boundary matters because the Justice Department has traditionally kept political activity apart from law enforcement. Blanche’s appearances at a Republican midterm convention in September and at a rally for a North Carolina Republican Senate candidate drew criticism that they violated long-standing department norms. Blanche said the events were personal appearances and that he was not violating a rule or law.
The new memo supplies a written basis for that distinction. It makes clear that presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed Justice Department employees are exempt from more stringent guidelines that continue to apply to some other employees. Those groups include administrative law judges and employees in the Criminal Division. The guidance therefore does not describe one uniform standard for everyone who works at the department.
The change follows earlier shifts in department policy. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi had allowed political appointees to attend rallies and fundraisers. The latest memo goes further by expressly allowing campaigning, including canvassing, and party leadership roles. It turns a narrower allowance for attendance into a broader list of activities for the covered officials.
The comparison with the prior policy is direct. A 2024 memo said non-career appointees could not attend partisan political events, even in their personal capacities. That policy continued a restriction instituted two years earlier. The 2024 guidance also advised appointees to avoid public appearances in a state shortly before a primary or general election there, to the greatest extent practicable.
The new guidance changes the balance between political participation and the tradition of keeping politics independent from the law. Senior appointees gain room to take part in party work, while other DOJ employees remain under more stringent rules. That is a meaningful difference in how the department treats its own workforce. It also puts greater weight on the distinction between an official role and a personal one. The officials’ permitted activity is tied to that distinction, not to a change in the rules for every employee.
The practical impact is specific, though several administrative details are not in the available account. Covered appointees may speak at rallies, canvass for votes, and serve as party delegates or officers when acting personally. No fee, form, reporting requirement, enforcement procedure, or deadline is described. The more restrictive standards remain in place for administrative law judges and Criminal Division employees, and the guidance identifies no new compliance timetable. The memo also does not set out additional steps for officials to take before participating.
For Blanche, the memo clarifies the department’s stated rules after his convention speech and campaign rally drew scrutiny. The earlier criticism centered on norms meant to keep politics independent from the law; the new guidance says covered appointees can engage in these activities personally. It does not erase the distinction between personal participation and official department work. Instead, it makes that distinction central to the policy.
The memo’s next steps are not detailed in the account, and no separate review schedule is identified. The necessary steps now are for covered officials and the employees subject to stricter guidelines to follow the rules that apply to their positions. The written categories provide a clear starting point, while continued public scrutiny can track how the personal-capacity boundary is used. The department has set out the rules; compliance with those limits remains the measure of whether the policy works as written. The guidance leaves that boundary as the key limit on the newly permitted campaign activity.
Eric Nolan serves as the Senior Correspondent for Food, Water, and Environmental Health at Just Right News, where he brings a principled, common-sense perspective to the most fundamental issues facing the American public. With a career dedicated to uncovering the truth behind the policies that govern our natural resources, Eric has become a trusted voice for readers who value traditional stewardship over bureaucratic overreach. His reporting is defined by a commitment to the idea that true environmentalism is rooted in the protection of the American family and the preservation of the nation’s agricultural heritage.
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