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 1591–1600 of 2202
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Effect of the Freedom of Information Act on the Intelligence Oversight Board
This opinion concluded that the Intelligence Overisght Board was likely subject to neither FOIA nor the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The OLC added that even if the Board was nominally subject to those requirements, the exemptions found in both laws would allow the IOB to continue conducting business confidentially.
9/2/2022
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Acceptance of Cash Prize by a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Examiner
Acceptance of Cash Prize by a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Examiner 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/21246/download.
11/17/1977
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Participation of Antitrust Division Attorney in "Armored Car" Cases
Participation of Antitrust Division Attorney in "Armored Car" Cases 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/21241/download.
11/10/1977
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Immigration Status of Persons Employed by Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities of the United States
Immigration Status of Persons Employed by Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities of the United States 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/21236/download.
11/3/1977
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Richard Helms' Eligibility Under 5 U.S.C. § 8314 to Receive an Annuity or Retired Pay
Richard Helms' Eligibility Under 5 U.S.C. § 8314 to Receive an Annuity or Retired Pay 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/21231/download.
11/3/1977
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Basis for Executive Branch Authority to Classify Information
In this memo, the OLC provided a list of constitutional and related statutory bases under which the Executive Branch was authorized to establish a system for the classification of information.
9/2/2022
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Constitutionality of Extending the Time Period for Ratification of the Proposed Equal Rights Amendment
This opinion examines whether the Congressional proposal to extend the deadline for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). It concludes that no authority suggests persuasively that a deadline extension, in the form of a concurrent resolution subject to simple majority in both houses of Congress, would be unconstitutional. In addition, the opinion finds that neither the state legislature nor Congress can permit the states to rescind their ratification of the ERA during the proposed extension. 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 https://justice.gov/olc/page/file/1242666/download.
10/31/1977
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Presentation of Enrolled Bills When the President Is Abroad
The President—Constitutional Law (Article I, § 7, cl. 2)—Presentation of Enrolled Bills—Absence of the President 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/21376/download.
10/25/1977
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President's Authority To Promulgate a Reorganization Plan Involving the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
President's Authority To Promulgate a Reorganization Plan Involving the Equal Employment Opportunity 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/21226/download.
10/20/1977
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Travel and Subsistence Expenses for the Director-Designate of the FBI
Travel and Subsistence Expenses for the Director-Designate of the Federal Bureau of 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/21221/download.
10/19/1977