Thornburgh Memo

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The Thornburgh Memo was a 1989 memo from U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh. It said that state ethics rules did not bind federal prosecutors and that following those rules when doing government investigations was voluntary. The memo was not a law, but it showed the executive branch’s view of its duties as lawyers.

When Janet Reno became Attorney General in 1993, the Department of Justice moved away from Thornburgh’s position and created the Reno Rules, described in the Code of Federal Regulations. Those rules were later replaced by 28 U.S.C. § 530B, which says that government attorneys must follow state laws and rules and local federal court rules in the state where they work, just like other attorneys in that state.