The Reno Rules were ethical rules for federal prosecutors promulgated in the Code of Federal Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations

The Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States.The CFR is published by the Office of the Federal Register, an agency...

 by then Attorney General Janet Reno

Janet Reno

Janet Wood Reno is a former Attorney General of the United States . She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11...

. The rules, despite their issuance, lacked statutory authority and were unenforceable. See 'United States v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 132 F.3d 1252 (8th Cir. 1998). The rules were passed in the wake of discussions about the Thornburgh Memo

Thornburgh Memo

The Thornburgh Memo was a U.S. Department of Justice memorandum prepared by then Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, on June 8, 1989. The memo declared that state ethics rules were not binding upon federal prosecutors...

. They have since been supplanted by 28 U.S.C. § 530B.