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 721–730 of 2202
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Enforcement Jurisdiction of the Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices
Federal agencies are not included in the phrase "person or other entity" in the antidiscrimination provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(l). Accordingly, the Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices is without authority to bring discrimination charges against federal agencies. 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/20546/download.
8/17/1992
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Enforcement Jurisdiction of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices
In response to a request for reconsideration by the Department of the Navy, the OLC withdrew its previous opinion that the antidiscrimination provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act authorizes the Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices to investigate and prosecute charges of employment discrimination by federal agencies. Determining that its earlier opinion relied on a faulty assumption on the impact of executive orders and did not adequately address sovereign immunity, the OLC concluded instead that the federal government is not a “person or other entity” covered by the act.
9/2/2022
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Proposed Federal Abortion Legislation
The proposed legislation would enact a federal statutory regime of abortion regulation that leaves the States with substantially less regulatory authority than they have under Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The proposed legislation would represent a doubtful exercise of Congress' power to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment and would rest on a questionable link to Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce. 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/20551/download.
7/1/1992
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Marketing Loans for Grains and Wheat
The formulas in the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, under which farmers repay loans from the Department of Agriculture, contain a scrivener's error in the organization of the subsections, and the provisions should be read as if the error, which arose in the process of enrollment, had not been made. Under section 1302 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, marketing loan provisions that previously had been discretionary would be mandatory for the 1993 through 1995 crop years, if an agricultural trade agreement under the Uruguay Round Negotiations pursuant to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade were not entered into by June 30, 1992, or if this agreement had not entered into force for the United States by June 30, 1993. 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/20556/download.
6/3/1992
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Congressional Pay Amendment
The Congressional Pay Amendment, which was originally proposed by Congress to the States for ratification in 1789, and having been ratified by three-fourths of the States, has been ratified pursuant to Article V and is accordingly now part of the Constitution. Under 1 U.S.C. § 106b, the Archivist was, upon receipt of formal instruments of ratification from the requisite number of States, required to publish the Congressional Pay Amendment along with his certificate specifying that the Amendment has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of the Constitution. 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/20561/download.
5/13/1992
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Funding for the Critical Technologies Institute
The Department of Defense may make funds available to the National Science Foundation out of monies appropriated in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1991, to support the activities of the Critical Technologies Institute during the 1992 fiscal year. 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/20566/download.
5/12/1992
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Statutory Authority to Contract With the Private Sector for Secure Facilities
The Federal Bureau of Prisons has statutory authority to contract with the private sector for secure facilities. 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/20571/download.
3/25/1992
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Application of 18 U.S.C. § 205 to Proposed "Master Amici"
18 U.S.C. § 205 precludes attorneys in the executive branch from serving as "master amici" in the Court of Veterans Appeals. 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/20576/download.
3/12/1992
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Compact for the Interstate Exchange of Criminal History Records for Non-Criminal Justice Purposes
In this brief memo, the OLC addressed a disagreement between its office and the National Crime Center’s Advisory Policy Board. The disagreement centered on the Compact for the Interstate Exchange of Criminal History Records for Non-Criminal Justice Purposes––an agreement that allowed information sharing between federal and state governments––and the OLC’s view that as written, the establishment of a Compact Council with rulemaking and adjudicatory authority would be an exercise of “significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States” as interpreted by the Supreme Court. As such, the Council could not constitutionally exercise such powers without appointments clause compliance. The OLC proposed (omitted) modifications to ensure conformity.
9/2/2022
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Fourth Amendment Implications of Military Use of Forward Looking Infrared Radars Technology for Civilian Law Enforcement
Forward Looking Infrared Radars (FLIR) reconnaissance of structures on private lands does not constitute a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Department of Defense personnel engaged in such surveillance would not be subject to liability for damages in a constitutional tort action. 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/21416/download.
3/4/1992