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).
Some opinion descriptions were drafted by the OLC, some were prepared by Knight First Amendment Institute staff, and some were generated using AI tools.
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.
Showing 111–120 of 2214
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OLC FOIA Interim Response Letter
The document is a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for formal written opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) created on or before February 15, 1994. The OLC has processed a portion of the identified responsive records, covering 119 records from the years 1969, 1974, and 1981, some of which are protected by attorney-client and/or presidential communications privileges. The response also includes information about excluded law enforcement and national security records, as well as the right to file an administrative appeal. The questions presented for review include the status of the ongoing litigation, the availability of FOIA mediation services, and the process for filing an administrative appeal.
7/27/2020
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Index of 1954 unclassified OLC legal opinions
The OLC disclosed this index—of unclassifed OLC legal opinions from 1954—to the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University during the litigation in Francis v. DOJ. The OLC labeled the index "preliminary."
7/8/2020
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Index of 1977 unclassified OLC legal opinions
The OLC disclosed this index—of unclassifed OLC legal opinions from 1977—to the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University during the litigation in Francis v. DOJ. The OLC labeled the index "preliminary."
6/5/2020
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Index of 1965 unclassified OLC legal opinions
The OLC disclosed this index—of unclassifed OLC legal opinions from 1965—to the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University during the litigation in Francis v. DOJ. The OLC labeled the index "preliminary."
5/7/2020
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OLC FOIA Initial Response Letter
4/27/2020
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OLC FOIA Initial Response Letter
The document is a response from the U.S. Department of Justice to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by Daniela Nogueira on behalf of several individuals and organizations. The response indicates that a portion of the requested records has been processed and some documents are being released, while others are exempt from mandatory disclosure due to attorney-client and/or presidential communications privileges. The document also provides information on how to file an administrative appeal and contact the Office of Government Information Services for FOIA mediation services. The conclusion reached in the document is that the request is the subject of ongoing litigation, and administrative appeals are not ordinarily acted upon in such situations. The questions presented for review include the status of the processing of responsive records, the exemptions applied to certain documents, and the options for filing an administrative appeal.
4/27/2020
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Index of 1969 unclassified OLC legal opinions
The OLC disclosed this index—of unclassifed OLC legal opinions from 1969—to the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University during the litigation in Francis v. DOJ. The OLC labeled the index "preliminary."
4/7/2020
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January 2020 Airstrike in Iraq Against Qassem Soleimani
This memorandum discusses a January 2020 airstrike in Iraq against Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force of Iran. The document is heavily redacted, and discusses primarily the history of the United States' involvement in Iraq, Iran's opposition to the U.S. presence in the Middle East, attacks on the U.S. and its partners by Qods Force and others, and the history of military action, including airstrike authorization, by presidents. The OLC considered, while advising on the permissiiblity of airstrike against Qassem Soleimani, the likelihood that the airstrike could escalate into larger-scale conflict, and defended its initial assessment that resulting hostilities would be unlikely to escalate "to the level of a war for constitutional purposes." OLC also advised that the president could rely on the 2002 AUMF to justify the use of force.
4/20/2023
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Index of 1981 unclassified OLC legal opinions
The OLC disclosed this index—of unclassifed OLC legal opinions from 1981—to the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University during the litigation in Francis v. DOJ. The OLC labeled the index "preliminary."
3/3/2020
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Exclusion of Religiously Affiliated Schools from Charter-School Grant Program
A provision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 that excludes religiously affiliated charter schools from participating in the Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Program discriminates on the basis of religious status in violation of the Free Exercise Clause. 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/olc/file/1347781/download.
2/18/2020