When I was a public employee (actually a research assistant at a state university, but that still qualifies), I had to sit through training every year reminding

When I was a public employee (actually a research assistant at a state university, but that still qualifies), I had to sit through training every year reminding me that it's against ethics rules to accept a gift worth more than $50. As a private employee contracting for the government, I was similarly reminded of some ethics rules... and when we actually had government visits, the government workers had to pay for their own coffee and lunch (basically sandwich, chips, and cookies, standard conference fare) during the breaks. Alito, in the extremely unlikely chance that you're reading this comment: if you want to understand if someone could reasonably find that a gift might pose a conflict of interest, why not try asking your own law clerks? Or better yet, take the same training they have to. It is absolutely gobsmacking to me when you have elected officials taking massive gifts and defending themselves by saying they can still be impartial, when their unelected underlings aren't allowed a thousandth the leeway without falling afoul of election rules. Although, given that he thinks "I was offered a seat on a private jet that would otherwise have gone vacant" is a defense... he is really, really out of touch with how most of the country will see things.