Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) introduced an amendment to the the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act that extended the disclosure requirements to executive branch employees.
“There is a difference in [privacy] law between public, elected officials and other government employees,” Pillsbury litigator Jack McKay said in an interview.
Plaintiffs suing to block implementation of the law include an employee at the Eunice Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a NASA engineer, a field operations coordinator for immigration services, an intake director in the civil rights office at the State Department, an administrative law judge at the Justice Department and a unnamed woman employed by the foreign service, along with the Senior Executives Association, the American Foreign Service Association, the Assembly of Scientists and the National Association of Immigration Judges.
The lawsuit estimates that 28,000 executive branch employees, both civilians and military personnel, will be affected by the increased disclosure requirements.
Correction: Aug. 6, 2012
An earlier version of this article mistakenly said the lawsuit had been filed against the U.S. government and the Office of Congressional Ethics. It was filed against the U.S. government and the Office of Government Ethics.
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