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 131–140 of 2202
-
Protective Assertion of Executive Privilege Over Unredacted Mueller Report and Related Investigative Files
The President may make a preliminary, protective assertion of executive privilege over the entirety of the materials subpoenaed by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives relating to Special Counsel Mueller's investigation, to ensure the President's ability to make a final assertion, if necessary, over some or all of the subpoenaed material. 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/olc/opinion/file/1350191/download.
5/8/2019
-
Whether the Food and Drug Administration Has Jurisdiction over Articles Intended for Use in Lawful Executions
Articles intended for use in executions carried out by a State or the federal government cannot be regulated as "drugs" or "devices" under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The Food and Drug Administration therefore lacks jurisdiction to regulate articles intended for that use. 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/olc/opinion/file/1162686/download.
5/3/2019
-
Review of the Special Counsel's Report
The memo evaluated the Special Counsel's Report on Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election to determine whether the facts recited therein would support prosecution of President Trump for obstruction of justice. It concluded that the evidence described in the Report was "not sufficient to support a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the President violated the obstruction-of-justice statutes," and so would not support such charges as a matter of law.
8/24/2022
-
Designating an Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency
In designating an Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the President may choose either an incumbent Deputy Director under 12 U.S.C. § 4512(f), the vacancy statute that applies specifically to the office of the Director, or someone who is made eligible to be an acting officer by the Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. Under the latter, the President may select the Senate-confirmed Comptroller of the Currency. 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/olc/file/1220591/download.
3/18/2019
-
Paying for Removing Structures at the Treasure Lake Civilian Conservation Center
The interdepartmental-waiver doctrine, under which one agency generally may not pay to restore or repair property in the custody of another agency, prevents the Department of Labor from paying to remove structures at a defunct Job Corps site that is located within a wildlife refuge in the custody of the Department of Interior. No statutory authority has displaced that doctrine's applicability by authorizing the Department of Labor to pay for removing the structures. 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/olc/file/1356296/download.
2/22/2019
-
Requests by Individual Members of Congress for Executive Branch Information
In reviewing requests from Congress, the Executive Branch's longstanding policy has been to engage in the established process for working to accommodate congressional requests for information only when those requests come from a committee, subcommittee, or chairman acting pursuant to oversight authority delegated from a House of Congress. Departments and agencies, however, may appropriately give due weight and sympathetic consideration to requests for information from individual members of Congress not delegated such authority. Only a committee chairman may request presidential records under section 2205(2)(C) of the Presidential Records Act, unless the committee has specifically delegated that authority to another member. 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/olc/file/1356251/download.
2/13/2019
-
Mandatory Disclosure of Civil Rights Cold Case Records
The mandatory disclosure regime in S. 3191, the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018, could curtail the President's ability to protect information subject to executive privilege. S. 3191 unconstitutionality restricts the qualifications for appointees to the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board and unconstitutionally dictates the timing of their appointments. S. 3191 unconstitutionally restricts the President's supervision of the Executive Branch by prohibiting the President from removing Review Board members absent cause. 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/olc/file/1349726/download.
2/4/2019
-
Designating an Acting Attorney General
This opinion concludes that the designation of Matthew G. Whitaker, a non-Senate-confirmed official, as the Acting Attorney General by President Trump is consistent with both the Vacancies Reform Act and the Appointment Clause 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 https://justice.gov/olc/page/file/1110881/download.
11/14/2018
-
Designating an Acting Attorney General
This opinion concludes that the designation of Matthew G. Whitaker, a non-Senate-confirmed official, as the Acting Attorney General by President Trump is consistent with both the Vacancies Reform Act and the Appointment Clause 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 https://justice.gov/olc/page/file/1110881/download.
11/14/2018
-
Reconsidering Whether the Wire Act Applies to Non-Sports Gambling
This Office concluded in 2011 that the prohibitions of the Wire Act in 18 U.S.C. § 1084(a) are limited to sports gambling. Having been asked to reconsider, we now conclude that the statutory prohibitions are not uniformly limited to gambling on sporting events or contests. Only the second prohibition of the first clause of section 1084(a), which criminalizes transmitting "information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest," is so limited. The other prohibitions apply to non-sports-related betting or wagering that satisfy the other elements of section 1084(a). The 2006 enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act did not alter the scope of section 1084(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/olc/file/1121531/download.
11/2/2018