Jared Kushner hasn’t faced a whole lot of adversity in his young life.
The husband of Ivanka Trump just turned 36 today, but is already the scion of a multi-billion dollar real estate empire and the publisher of the New York Observer (which he purchased at age 25 for a cool $ 10 million).
But despite his life of unimaginable privilege, Kushner is being credited with “triumphing” over hardship this week, due to his efforts to skirt anti-nepotism laws designed to prevent people in his position from assuming official roles as the president’s right-hand man.
Kushner played a significant role in Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign, and now Trump has announced plans to reward his son-in-law with a non-salaried (but highly influential) role as senior adviser to the president.
Kushner has announced plans to step down as CEO of Kushner companies and divest from a “significant number” of his assets, but many still believe that Trump would be in violation of a 50-year-old anti-nepotism law if he were to appoint Kushner to his staff.
The law was enacted after John F. Kennedy appointed his younger brother, Robert F. Kennedy, to the post of attorney general.
This is far from the first Trump appointment to ignite controversy, but in this case, there may be legal recourse for those seeking to prevent the president-elect from getting his way.
Many have already called for the Justice Department and the Office of Government Ethics to review the legality of the appointment, and it’s widely agreed that the appointment would put the Trump administration in clear and direct violation of the law.
“There is a strong case to be made that the White House is an ‘agency’ for purposes of the anti-nepotism statute and that it would apply to bar Mr. Kushner’s appointment as a White House staff member,” wrote Rep. John Conyers in a statement released to the media on Monday.
Though he had no experience in the political arena prior to taking a position with his father-in-law’s campaign, Kushner’s lack of experience is not what’s at issue.
Rather, opponents to his appointment argue that Trump’s hiring of family members for top White House positions simply
“The problem is that when you hire relatives it raises questions about why,” says CNN legal consultant Larry Noble.
“Follow the anti-nepotism laws, they are meant to apply to the President. The point of the statute was to stop the President from hiring relatives, including son-in-laws.”
He adds:
“A classic abuse of hiring authority is hiring your own relatives.”
