Cite as: 526 U. S. 398 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
All of the regulations, and some of the statutes, described above contain exceptions for various kinds of gratuities given by various donors for various purposes. Many of those exceptions would be snares for the unwary, given that there are no exceptions to the broad prohibition that the Government claims is imposed by § 201(c)(1). In this regard it is interesting to consider the provisions of 5 CFR § 2635.202 (1999), issued by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and binding on all employees of the Executive Branch and independent agencies. The first subsection of that provision, entitled "General prohibitions," makes unlawful approximately (if not precisely) what the Government asserts § 201(c)(1)(B) makes unlawful: acceptance of a gift "[f]rom a prohibited source" (defined to include any person who "[h]as interests that may be substantially affected by performance or nonperformance of the employee's official duties," 5 CFR § 2635.203(d)(4) (1999)) or "[g]iven because of the employee's official position," § 2635.202(a)(2). The second subsection, entitled "Relationship to illegal gratuities statute," then provides:
"Unless accepted in violation of paragraph (c)(1) of this section [banning acceptance of a gift 'in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act'], a gift accepted under the standards set forth in this subpart shall not constitute an illegal gratuity otherwise prohibited by 18 U. S. C. § 201(c)(1)(B)." § 2635.202(b) (emphasis added).
We are unaware of any law empowering OGE to decriminalize acts prohibited by Title 18 of the United States Code. Yet it is clear that many gifts "accepted under the standards set forth in [the relevant] subpart" will violate 18 U. S. C. § 201(c)(1)(B) if the interpretation that the Government urges upon us is accepted. The subpart includes, for example—as § 201(c)(1)(B) does not—exceptions for gifts of $20 or less, aggregating no more than $50 from a single
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