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.
Showing 1281–1290 of 2202
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Congressional Authority to Modify an Executive Agreement Settling Claims Against Iran
Congress has plenary authority to modify or abrogate preexisting executive agreements or treaties for domestic law purposes, and could thus pass legislation reviving tort claims of American hostages and their families against Iran that might be extinguished by an executive agreement with Iran. 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/22406/download.
11/13/1980
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Exclusion of Medicine and Medical Supplies From Controls Under the Export Administration Act of 1979
Congress intended the exclusion in § 6(f) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 for medicine and medical supplies to be absolute, and did not intend to limit it by imposing a strict standard of human need. The President has broad discretion to determine whether particular exports are medicines or medical supplies within the exclusion, subject only to the limitation suggested by the concept of basic human need. 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/24636/download.
11/13/1980
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Limitations on Presidential Authority to Control Export of Certain Hazardous Substances
The regulatory scheme imposed by certain statutes regulating specific hazardous substances for purposes of health and safety does not preclude the President from imposing export controls on those substances for foreign policy purposes under the Export Administration Act (EAA). Section 17(a) of the EAA does not supersede other laws imposing export controls, but expressly recognizes the effect of such other laws; controls under the EAA thus may exist side-by-side with controls imposed pursuant to other laws. Insulating the vast range of products which are subject to domestic health and safety regulations from export controls would defeat the goals of the EAA relating to national security, foreign policy, and economic stability. 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/24631/download.
11/13/1980
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Government Lawyers' Pro Bono Activities in the District of Columbia
Attorneys employed by the federal government are barred by 18 U.S.C. § 205 from participating in any case in which the District of Columbia is a party or has a direct and substantial interest. Conclusion of 1970 opinion that federal attorneys may not represent even on a voluntary basis indigent persons asserting claims against the District, affirmed. 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/24626/download.
11/3/1980
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Presidential Authority to Settle Claims of the Hostages and Their Families
The President may agree to a settlement with Iran whereby any tort claims of the hostages and their families against Iran would be extinguished, without working a taking for a public purpose within the Just Compensation Clause of the Fifth Amendment. This conclusion is reinforced by the difficulty of identifying loss to the hostages and their families as a result of a claims settlement effected to secure their release, and the unlikelihood of their being able to recover in tort against Iran in any event in light of the noncommercial tort provision in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(5). 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/22401/download.
10/14/1980
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Standards for Closing a Meeting of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy
The Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy is subject to the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which provides that advisory committee meetings may be closed to the public only upon a determination that one or more of the exemptions of the Government in the Sunshine Act is applicable. The December 1980 meeting of the Commission may not be closed in its entirety for national security and foreign policy reasons, insofar as it deals with matters not relating to those issues; the spirit of the Federal Advisory Committee Act requires that the meeting agenda be structured so that classified and other exempt information is considered separately from the main, and congressionally mandated public, policy discussions and decisionmaking activities of the Commission. 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/22306/download.
10/10/1980
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Presidential Authority to Permit the Withdrawal of Iranian Assets Now in the Federal Reserve Bank
In order to allow Iran to withdraw its assets in the Federal Reserve Bank, the President has the power, under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), to nullify existing attachments licensed under the Iranian Assets Control Regulations. Since in consenting to attachments against the blocked Iranian assets the Government reserved the right to revoke its consent at any time, their nullification does not constitute a compensable taking of private property. The Federal Reserve Bank may release Iranian assets which have been attached but are not yet subject to a licensed final judgment, in reliance on the Presidents' action under the IEEPA, without applying to the court to vacate its attachment orders. The considerations which ordinarily mandate compliance with court orders would not justify a contempt citation where the conduct in question has been clearly mandated by supervening executive action, where compliance would defeat the President's exercise of his emergency power under the IEEPA, and where the IEEPA itself provides an express exception to contempt liability for compliance with an order issued under its authority. Where Congress has immunized good faith compliance with a presidential order issued under the IEEPA, the Federal Reserve Bank would not be held liable to disappointed attachment creditors even if the presidential orders nullifying the attachment orders were later held unlawful. Nor is there any basis, in the Constitution or otherwise, on which creditors whose attachments were nullified would be likely to recover against the United States itself. 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/22396/download.
10/8/1980
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Authority of the Secretary of the Treasury Under the New York City Loan Guarantee Act of 1978
The authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to issue guarantees under the New York City Loan Guarantee Act of 1978, P.L. No. 95-339 and P.L. No. 95-415, was not affected by a rider in the Senate appropriation bill, H.R. 7631, under § 101(a)(3) of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, P.L. No. 96-369, 94 Stat. 1351. Section 101(a)(3) of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution was intended to distinguish between matters considered by both the Senate and the House of Representatives in their appropriations bills, for which the more restrictive of the two provisions on an agency's authority is to govern, and matters considered by only one House in its appropriations bill, for which the authority and conditions of FY 1980 appropriations are to govern. The restriction on the Secretary of the Treasury's authority to issue guarantees under the New York City Loan Guarantee Act of 1978 is found only in the Senate version of the appropriations bill pertaining to the New York City Loan Guarantee program and had not been considered by the House of Representatives; therefore, the Senate rider did not operate (under § 101(a)(3) of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution) to restrict the Secretary's authority to issue New York City loan guarantees. The Attorney General does not have the authority to issue opinions on questions arising out of a business transaction between a private person and the government when the private person has insisted on receiving an Attorney General opinion for his benefit and the requesting department head has no real concern about the question. The Attorney General will issue opinions related to business transactions between the government and private persons only when the transaction raises a substantial and genuine issue of law arising in the administration of a Department. 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/22301/download.
10/2/1980
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Federal Bureau of Investigation Authority to Investigate a Killing in the Virgin Islands
Under 28 U.S.C. § 533(3), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has authority to conduct an investigation of any "official matters under the control of the Department of Justice." Since, under 48 U.S.C. § 1617, the United States Attorney for the Virgin Islands is empowered to prosecute serious offenses against local law, including murder, the murder of an immigration judge in the Virgin Islands is within the FBI's investigative jurisdiction. 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/24616/download.
10/2/1980
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Presidential Authority to Control Export of Hazardous Wastes Under the Export Administration Act of 1979
The Export Administration Act of 1979 gives the President authority to impose controls on the export of hazardous wastes. Under the 1979 Act, the term "export" includes transactions that have substantial economic consequences, even if they do not directly produce revenue by sales. 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/24621/download.
10/2/1980