The OLC
Astrid Da Silva

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.

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  • Power of the United States to Conclude With the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico a Compact Which Could Be Modified Only by Mutual Consent

    The opinion determines that the United States and Puerto Rico have the legal capacity to enter into a compact with each other, despite the fact that Puerto Rico is a subdivision of the U.S. The opinion further concludes that Congress has the power to work out forms of government for Puerto Rico, including grants of self-government, which can be modified only by mutual consent. 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/file/796061/download.

    7/23/1973

  • Expense of Enforcing the Desegregation Order at the University of Mississippi

    This memo, which appears to have never been formally sent to its recipient, advised the deputy attorney general that the federal government must bear the cost of federal troops and marshals used to support desegregation. The opinion’s conclusion rested on a prior attorney general opinion concluding that the federal government’s costs in enforcing the fugitive slave law could not be charged to a slaveowner.

    5/16/2022

  • Control of travel of United States citizens to Cuba

    In this memo, the OLC discussed the limitations on a law requiring a valid passport for travel to Cuba, noting that the relevant regulations did not clearly apply to citizens who first traveled to a country for which no passport was required (like Mexico or Canada) and then traveled to Cuba. The OLC advised that the “simplest” way to modify current laws would be to prohibit all travel or entry to particular countries, without any willfulness requirement.

    5/16/2022

  • Proposal that the President Accept Honorary Irish Citizenship

    This opinion holds that the honorary Irish citizenship conferred on President Kennedy falls under the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits any U.S. office holder from accepting any "Title, of any kind whatever," without Congressional consent. The opinion further concludes that if President Kennedy decides to accept the honorary citizenship, he must first have it deposited with the Department of State, before waiting for consenting legislation, or requesting the document after he leaves office. 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/935746/download.

    5/10/1963

  • Proposal that the President Accept Honorary Irish Citizenship

    This opinion holds that the honorary Irish citizenship conferred on President Kennedy falls under the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits any U.S. office holder from accepting any "Title, of any kind whatever," without Congressional consent. The opinion further concludes that if President Kennedy decides to accept the honorary citizenship, he must first have it deposited with the Department of State, before waiting for consenting legislation, or requesting the document after he leaves office. 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/935746/download.

    5/10/1963

  • Ordinances requiring a license, upon payment of a substantial tax, to sell Communist-made goods, and requiring publicity and placards of origin of goods

    This memo shared a news story of an Ohio merchant who was arrested for selling Communist goods without a license, and encouraged the head of the Justice Department’s civil division to follow the case.

    5/16/2022

  • Sovereign Immunity

    This memo solicited the Civil Division's views on State Department memoranda announcing that the State Department would not recognize foreign governments' immunity from execution of their property unless the underlying litigation related to "public" rather than "private" conduct.

    5/16/2022

  • Legal and Practical Consequences of a Blockade of Cuba

    The President has the power to establish a blockade of Cuba under the laws of the United States without further congressional action. A blockade may be unilaterally established by the United States under international law but its establishment may be questioned within the Organization of American States and the United Nations. In addition, such a blockade could be regarded by Cuba and other Soviet Bloc nations as an act of war. 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/20906/download.

    10/19/1962

  • Invitation by Italian Government to Officials of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and a Member of the White House Staff, and Their Wives, to be Guests of the Italian Government, All Expenses, Including Travel, to be Borne by that Government

    This opinion examines whether three U.S. officials can legally accept an invitation by the Italian Government to a free trip to Italy. The opinion determines that acceptance would violate the Emoluments Clause, Executive Order No. 10939, 5 U.S.C. § 115, and State Department regulations. 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/935741/download.

    10/16/1962

  • Federally Supervised Lending Institutions and Racial Discrimination

    This memo considered two questions relating to a proposed executive action that would require several federal agencies to take measures to prevent the consideration of race as a factor in the issuance of home loans by private lending institutions. First, the memo found that neither the FDIC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, nor the Comptroller of the Currency had statutory power to take action with respect to institutions already committed to race-discriminatory lending programs. However, there was a basis for these agencies to apply such a program prospectively. Second, the memo found that, where agencies had underlying authority to prevent the consideration of race, the president had the power to direct the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Cur­rency, and the Federal Home Loan Bank Board to take those actions; the president had no similar direct authority over the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

    5/16/2022

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