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 421–430 of 2202
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Authority of the Deputy Attorney General Under Executive Order 12333
The Deputy Attorney General has authority to approve searches for intelligence purposes under section 2.5 of Executive Order 12333. 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/19126/download.
11/5/2001
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Application of 18 U.S.C. § 208 to Trustees of Private Trusts
Although a trustee of a private trust, solely by virtue of his capacity as a trustee, should not be deemed to have a personal financial interest in the property of the trust, a trustee of a private trust may have such an interest under certain circumstances. Further, a trustee of a private trust also should be considered to be serving in the capacity of a "trustee" of an "organization" for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 208(a). 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/19131/download.
11/2/2001
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Constitutionality of Expanded Electronic Surveillance Against Terrorists
This opinion provides legal justifications for the Bush Administration's decision to deploy expanded electronic surveillance techniques without obtaining a warrant. The opinion argues that the surveillance can be defended as reasonable under the Fourth Amendment because it advances the compelling government interest of protecting the U.S. from direct attack. 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/1154156/download.
11/2/2001
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Duration of the Term of a Member of the Civil Rights Commission
A member of the Civil Rights Commission, appointed when a predecessor died before the end of his term, serves only the remainder of her predecessor's term. 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/19136/download.
10/31/2001
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Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States
The opinion determines that the president has both constitutional and statutory authority to deploy the military against terrorists operating within the United States. The opinion also determines that deploying troops domestically is consistent with the Posse Comitatus Act, since it was intended to prevent only the use of the military for domestic law enforcement purposes, not military purposes. It further concludes that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to domestic military operations against terrorists; even if challenged in court, the opinion concludes that the military operations would satisfy the Fourth Amendment's reasonableness test. 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/docs/memomilitaryforcecombatus10232001.pdf.
10/23/2001
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Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest of Members of FDA Advisory Panels
Special government employees who serve as members of a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel and who seek waivers of conflicts of interest must publicly disclose any conflicts of interest they may have that relates to the work to be undertaken by the panel. The FDA may not waive a panel member's conflict until the panel member makes the public disclosure. The FDA has considerable discretion to determine how detailed the panel member's disclosure must be, so long as such disclosure is adequate to inform the public of the nature and magnitude of the conflict. 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/19141/download.
10/5/2001
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Checking Names of Prohibited Persons Against Records in the NICS Audit Log Concerning Allowed Transfers
The Federal Bureau of Investigation may check whether names of individuals known to be prohibited from purchasing a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5) appear in records concerning allowed transfers in the audit log of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in the course of auditing the performance of the NICS, and may share the results of such searches with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. 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/19146/download.
10/1/2001
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The President's Constitutional Authority to Conduct Military Operations Against Terrorists and Nations Supporting Them
The President has broad constitutional power to take military action in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Congress has acknowledged this inherent executive power in both the War Powers Resolution and the Joint Resolution passed by Congress on September 14, 2001. The President has constitutional power not only to retaliate against any person, organization, or state suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks on the United States, but also against foreign states suspected of harboring or supporting such organizations. The President may deploy military force preemptively against terrorist organizations or the states that harbor or support them, whether or not they can be linked to the specific terrorist incidents of September 11. 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/19151/download.
9/25/2001
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Constitutionality of Amending Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to Change the “Purpose” Standard for Searches
This opinion reviews the constitutionality of amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA"), so that a FISA search can be approved when the collection of foreign intelligence is "one of the purposes" of the search, rather than the "primary purpose." The opinion concludes that the proposed amendment would not violate the Fourth Amendment, though it notes that some individual searches may raise constitutional questions if the federal prosecutors are too directly invovled and the search appears to only incidentially relate to foreign intelligence. The opinion was partially rescinded in 2009. 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/docs/memoforeignsurveillanceact09252001.pdf.
9/25/2001
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Post-Employment Restriction of 12 U.S.C. § 1812(e)
A Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision who resigns at the President's request is not subject to the two-year restriction, under 12 U.S.C. § 1812(e), against working for an insured depository institution or a depository institution holding company. 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/19156/download.
9/4/2001