Reading Room Document

Closing of Government Offices in Memory of Former President Eisenhower

This opinion concludes that 5 U.S.C. § 6105, which prohibits any executive departments from being "closed as a mark to the memory of a deceased former official of the United States," does not bar the president from closing all government offices on the day of former President Eisenhower's state funeral, since legislative history suggests the original purpose of § 6105 was to prevent the head of a department from closing it to mark the death of a lesser official. 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/935966/download.

April 1, 1969