Also known as: official acts
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
An act performed by the President in an official capacity. Such acts receive immunity from civil suit while unofficial acts receive no such protection.
A formal exercise of governmental power that is specific and focused on a pending question or matter that may be brought before a public official.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
An act performed by the President in an official capacity. Such acts receive immunity from civil suit while unofficial acts receive no such protection.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A formal exercise of governmental power that is specific and focused on a pending question or matter that may be brought before a public official.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Odessa Okada worked at a private farm owned by the future President ten years before the election. After the President took office she sued for unpaid wages arising from that earlier employment. The court allowed the suit to proceed because the alleged conduct occurred before the President assumed office and was not an official act.
Yes. Presidential immunity protects only acts performed in an official capacity. Unofficial conduct that occurred before taking office receives no immunity even while the President remains in office.
Supporting sources
No. A valid arrest warrant requires the signature of a judicial officer. A clerk's forged signature is not legally equivalent and does not satisfy the requirement that a judge perform the official act of issuing the warrant.
Supporting sources
Omar Olson, a state governor, accepted loans from a supplement company executive in exchange for setting up meetings with university officials. The court held that merely arranging meetings did not qualify as an official act under the bribery statute because it was not a formal exercise of governmental power on a specific pending matter.
Orlando Okafor, an agency administrator, issued an emergency price regulation during wartime. A regulated party later challenged the regulation in court. The court treated the issuance as an official act that the administrator had already performed and therefore could reconsider during protest proceedings.
An official act is a formal exercise of governmental power that is specific and focused on a pending question or matter that may be brought before a public official. Setting up a meeting or granting access does not qualify.
Supporting sources
…the necessities of the case, does not come with a virgin mind to the consideration of a protest. He has previously performed the official act of issuing the regulation, the terms of which of course reflect his conclusions on many economic, administrative and legal questions. In this sense, he necessarily approaches consideration…