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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  • Department of Justice Representation in Federal CriminalProceedings

    The Attorney General's statutory authority to provide legal representation to individual federal employees sued for acts occurring in the course of their official government duties does not extend to representation in a federal criminal proceeding, since in such a case the interests of the United States have been defined by the prosecuting authority to be adverse to those of the defendant. 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/22951/download.

    2/11/1982

  • The Pocket Veto: Historical Practice and Judicial Precedent (I)

    The following two memoranda examine historical practice and judicial precedent under the Pocket Veto Clause of the Constitution, Art. I, § 7, cl. 2, in order to advise the President concerning the efficacy of a pocket veto during both intrasession and intersession adjournments of Congress. 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/22941/download.

    2/10/1982

  • The Role of the Attorney General in the Government of the United States

    This opinion, written by Ted Olson described the appropriate role of the attorney general in maintaining the separation of powers, explaining that the office’s ultimate goal should be “the preservation of justice,” rather than “the attainment of any particular policy.” Olson also advised that an attorney general should “provide a degree of independence from partisanship,” and serve as “an internal check within the Executive Branch on the partisan and policy impulses of the remainder of the Administration.”

    9/2/2022

  • Recovery of Interest on Advance Payments to State Grantees and Subgrantees

    Section 203 of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act exempts both the states and their subgrantees from accountability for interest earned on federal grant funds pending their disbursement, and such interest may thus not be recovered by the federal government. 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/22936/download.

    2/5/1982

  • Attribution of Outside Earned Income Under the Ethics in Government Act

    The Federal Election Commission rule that allows federal employees to defer receipt of income from honoraria, so as to avoid the annual ceiling of $25,000 imposed by 2 U S.C. § 4411, does not apply to the provision m the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, which limits outside earned income for presidential appointees to 15 percent of their salary. For purposes of determining whether this 15 percent limit has been met, income will be attributed to the year in which the services relating to it were performed. 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/22931/download.

    1/28/1982

  • Acting Officers

    An officer designated by a department head pursuant to a statute to perform the duties of a presidential appointee has the same authority as the officer for whom he acts, and may serve for an indefinite period notwithstanding the 30-day limitation of the Vacancy Act, though while acting he is entitled only to the salary of his regular position. There are, however, a number of practical and political reasons why the designation of acting officers should not be used as a substitute for appointment by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Potential infirmities in the authonty of the acting officer in any particular situation will be cured by the de facto officer rule. 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/22926/download.

    1/27/1982

  • Review of Agency Schedule C Appointments by the Executive Office of the President

    The Executive Office of the President may involve itself in reviewing an agency's proposed Schedule C appointments, notwithstanding the President's general delegation of his authority m this area to the Office of Personnel Management, by virtue of the President s continuing responsibility for supervising the performance of Executive Branch officials. The Executive Office's power to review Schedule C appointments may be limited in the case of the independent agencies, or when the organic act of an agency specifically precludes review by the Executive Office. 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/22921/download.

    1/27/1982

  • Applicability of Certain Cross-Cutting Statutes to Block Grants Under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981

    Two block grant programs created by the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981 are subject to four "cross-cutting" statutes barring discrimination on grounds of race, sex, handicap, and age, and activities funded under those programs are subject to all of the regulatory and paperwork requirements imposed by those statutes. The language and legislative history of the four nondiscrimination laws at issue reveal that they were intended by Congress to be statements of national policy broadly applicable to all programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. Therefore, in the absence of a clear expression of congressional intent to exempt a particular program from the obligations imposed by the four cross-cutting laws, those laws will be presumed to apply in full force. While the general purpose of the block grant concept is to consolidate and "defederalize" prior categorical aid to state and local governments, and to lighten federal regulatory burdens, there is no suggestion in the legislative history of the two specific block grants at issue here that Congress intended to exempt programs or activities funded by them from the obligation not to discriminate embodied in the four cross-cutting statutes. 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/22916/download.

    1/18/1982

  • Removal of Presidentially Appointed Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

    There is no statutory limitation on the President's power to remove his appointees to the Board of Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and any such limitation would in any event be unconstitutional in light of the purely executive functions performed by these individuals. 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/22911/download.

    1/18/1982

  • The President's Power to Impose a Fee on Imported Oil Pursuant to the Trade Expansion Act of 1962

    The President has authority under § 232(b) of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose a license fee directly on foreign oil in order to restrict its importation in the interest of national security. However, the case law casts doubt on the President's authority to act under § 232(b) when the impact of his action falls only remotely and indirectly on imported articles, as was the case when President Carter sought in 1980 to implement a program designed primarily to restrict domestic consumption of gasoline. Prior to imposing a license fee on oil imports under § 232(b), the President is required to make certain findings, based on an investigation by the Secretary of Commerce, relating to the effects on the national security of oil imports, and to issue a proclamation. 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/22906/download.

    1/14/1982

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