The OLC
Astrid Da Silva

The OLC's Opinions

Opinions published by the OLC, including those released in response to our FOIA lawsuit

This Reading Room is a comprehensive database of published opinions written by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). It contains the approximately 1,400 opinions published by the OLC in its online database and the opinions produced in Freedom of Information Act litigation brought by the Knight Institute, including opinions about the Pentagon Papers, the Civil Rights Era, and the War Powers Act. It also contains indexes of unclassified OLC opinions written between 1945 and February 15, 1994 (these indexes were created by the OLC and intended to be comprehensive). We have compiled those indexes into a single list here and in .csv format here. This Reading Room also contains an index of all classified OLC opinions issued between 1974 and 2021, except those classified or codeword-classified at a level higher than Top Secret (the OLC created this index, too, and intended it to be comprehensive).

The Knight Institute will continue updating the reading room with new records. To get alerts when the OLC publishes a new opinion in its database, follow @OLCforthepeople on Twitter.

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  • Federal Bankruptcy Jurisdiction After October 4, 1982

    The Supreme Court's ruling in Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., 458 U.S. 50 (1982), invalidated those parts of the Bankruptcy Act of 1978 which gave power to non-Article III bankruptcy judges, but left its grant of jurisdiction to the district courts intact. The Supreme Court's invalidation of certain jurisdictional provisions of the Bankruptcy Act of 1978 did not result in automatic revitalization of any part of the bankruptcy laws repealed in 1978. Accordingly, after the effective date of the Court's decision, the district courts will be obliged to rely on some source of authority other than the bankruptcy laws to refer bankruptcy cases to bankruptcy judges, even for limited fact-finding purposes. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23151/download.

    9/14/1982

  • Funding of Attorney Fee Awards Against the United States Under Rule 37

    Attorney fee awards may be imposed against the United States for abuse of discovery under Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, by virtue of the general waiver of sovereign immunity in 28 U.S.C. § 2412(b) (Supp. V 1981), which was intended to make the United States and private litigants equally liable for a fee award based on the common law or on an applicable fee-shifting statute. Rule 37 by itself could not provide sufficient authority for a court to award attorney fees against the United States; the requisite waiver of sovereign immunity cannot be accomplished by a courtmade rule, but only by explicit legislative action. A judgment awarding attorney fees against the United States under authority of 28 U.S.C. § 2412(b) is ordinarily paid from the judgment fund. See 28 U.S.C. § 2412(c)(2). However, where a fee award is based on a finding of bad faith on the part of a government agency, as is the case here, it must be paid from the agency's general appropriation. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23146/download.

    9/13/1982

  • Exercise of Transfer Authority Under § 110 of H.J. Res. 370

    The substantive authonty granted the Secretary of the Treasury by H.J. Res. 370 to transfer funds between appropriation accounts is severable from the unconstitutional "committee approval" provision in that law, and may be exercised by the Secretary within a reasonable period after he has informed the Appropriations Committee of his intent to do so. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23141/download.

    9/2/1982

  • Presidential Appointment of the Board of Directors of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.

    Statute conditioning further funding of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc. on the President's selection of its Board of Directors would not undermine the public purposes of this nonprofit corporation, and it is therefore unlikely that the Delaware courts would strike it down under that state's laws. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23136/download.

    8/31/1982

  • Federal Reserve Board Policy on Bank Examiner Borrowing

    The Federal Reserve Board may change its administrative policy relating to borrowing by bank examiners, to allow bank examiners to borrow or hold credit cards from lending institutions affiliated with banks or bank holding companies which they are authorized to examine. The change proposed would not result in a violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 212 and 213. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23131/download.

    8/25/1982

  • Meeting the Uniformed Military Services' Payroll During a Period of Lapsed Appropriations

    The Secretary of Defense may meet the August 31, 1982, payroll for the uniformed military services without violating the Antideficiency Act, even though there are insufficient appropriated funds remaining in the payroll account to cover the amounts of social security and federal income tax that will be withheld simultaneously with issuance of the paychecks. This is because the due date for such withheld sums to be paid into the Treasury has been adjusted by the Secretary of the Treasury to September 30, 1982, and there is no legal obligation on the part of any employer to have in hand or to transfer to the Treasury any withheld funds until those payments are actually due. Funds withheld from an employee's pay are not considered legally transferred to the employee at the time a paycheck is issued, therefore, the prohibition in Article I, § 9, Clause 7, against drawing money from the Treasury in advance of an appropriation is not implicated by the timely issuance of paychecks in this case. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/22881/download.

    8/25/1982

  • Discrimination Among Classes of Legal Aliens in the Provision of Welfare Benefits

    Proposed legislation authorizing the states to discriminate among classes of legal aliens in the provision of welfare benefits is within Congress' power, and state statutes passed pursuant to it would likely be held constitutional. As a general matter, Congress could legislate to prevent states from providing welfare benefits to certain classes of aliens in order to effectuate a national policy on immigration. While there appears to be no basis for Congress' preempting provisions in state constitutions which mandated the payment of welfare to all aliens, regardless of their legal status, neither does any state constitution appear to contain such a mandatory provision. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23126/download.

    8/10/1982

  • Authority of Senate Committee Staff to Depose Executive Branch Officers

    There is no authority in the rules of the Senate, or in relevant statutes, for the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources to direct its staff to depose certain Executive Branch officials. Recent practice establishes that such depositions may be taken by Senate committee staff only when specifically authorized by a resolution of the full Senate in connection with a particular investigation. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23121/download.

    8/4/1982

  • Swearing in of a United States Attorney

    A United States Senator is not authonzed by federal law to administer the oath of office to a United States Attorney, though he may administer a ceremonial oath. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23116/download.

    8/3/1982

  • Confidentiality of the Attorney General's Communications in Counseling the President

    The following memorandum examines the scope of confidentiality accorded the Attorney General's communications with the President, and the extent to which those communications may be shielded from compulsory disclosure to Members of Congress, the courts, and members of the public. It considers the dual nature of the Attorney General's role as Cabinet member and as principal legal adviser to the President, and extends to the broader question of the confidentiality of the deliberative materials generated by the Attorney General and those who assist him. The memorandum discusses the applicability of the doctrine of executive privilege, and the appropriate circumstances for its invocation. It also analyzes the scope of the deliberative process and attomeyclient privileges under the Freedom of Information Act, and of the traditional governmental evidentiary privileges and their statutory counterparts. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23111/download.

    8/2/1982

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