Glenn Grothman: “Those of us in this institution talk about we are a country of laws. However, over time, more and more of the statements…”

“Those of us in this institution talk about we are a country of laws. However, over time, more and more of the statements that we have to live by are not laws. They are rules and regulations. Therefore, when the Whistleblower Protection Act was passed in 1989, I am not sure at the time whether it was intended to cover rules and regulations, but, as a practical matter, I think Federal employees will run into problems in which they are asked to disobey rules and regulations even more than statutory laws themselves. On June 7 of last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in Rainey v. Merit Systems Protection Board that, while laws were covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act, rules and regulations were not, at least if you weren't a Federal employee. Why is it relevant that we have to make up for the problems caused by this decision? Dr. Timothy Rainey was a State Department employee who, while serving as a contracting officer in 2013, was ordered by his superior to violate the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Dr. Rainey refused and was subsequently removed from his duties. When Dr. Rainey invoked the right-to-disobey provision of the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled the law only protected him from violating Federal laws, but such protections don't apply to rules or regulations. Dr. Rainey appealed the case, and the U.S.…”