Prof. Painter Quoted in Wall Street Journal on Federal Ethics

Professor Richard Painter was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article on a former high-ranking Justice Department official who, in private law practice, is seeking to represent a defendant in a criminal case coming out of an investigation that was conducted, in part, under his supervision at the Justice Department. The article stated: "Richard W. Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who served in the White House as chief ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush, said federal ethics law can be ambiguous and disagreements about a former public servant's post-government work aren't uncommon. 'But most former senior government officials do not go so close to the gray area,' he says. 'If the Justice Department says you'd be violating a criminal statute, most people back off at that point.'"