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 1221–1230 of 2202
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Constitutionality of Allowing Punishment of Misdemeanor by a Sentence Exceeding One Year
The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution requires that offenses punishable by imprisonment for more than one year be prosecuted by an indictment presented to a grand jury. Proposed amendments to the Lacey Act, by which misdemeanor violations of the Act could result in up to five years' imprisonment if the defendant were designated a "special offender," must be construed to require prosecution by indictment in all cases. 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/22611/download.
3/30/1981
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Funding of Attorneys Fees Awards under the Equal Access to Justice Act
7/27/2020
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Amendment of SBA Disaster Loan Program
7/27/2020
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Application of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to the Former Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Treaty and its implementing legislation make U.S. laws based on territorial jurisdiction, including the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, inapplicable to the former Panama Canal Zone. Both the Treaty negotiators and Congress expected environmental problems in the former Canal Zone to be dealt with jointly by the United States and Panama through the Joint Commission on the Environment. 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/22606/download.
3/17/1981
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Legislative Veto of Rules Promulgated by "Independent" Agencies
7/27/2020
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Power of the President to Remove Presidential Appointee to the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission.
10/27/2020
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Jurisdiction of the Office of Special Counsel, Merit Systems Protection Board, Under 5 U.S.C. §§ 1206(b)(2) and (7)
The Office of Special Counsel, Merit Systems Protection Board, has no authority under 5 U.S.C. §§ 1206(b)(2) and (7), to require another agency to submit a report concerning allegations of misconduct not made by a federal employee or an applicant for federal employment. 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/22601/download.
3/13/1981
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Government Attorneys' Participation as Plaintiffs in a Suit Against the Office of Personnel Management
Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) are not barred by 18 U.S.C. § 205 from participating as plaintiffs in a class action suit challenging the authority of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to reduce the cost of living allowance paid to all federal employees in Alaska, though they may not accept any compensation for assisting in prosecuting the claims of the class or act as agents or attorneys for the class. The AUSA's duty of loyalty to a client under applicable standards of professional conduct does not preclude his joining a suit against OPM, but he should avoid taking an active or notorious role in the litigation. 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/22596/download.
3/9/1981
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The Constitutionality of Legislative Veto Devices
10/27/2020
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Use of funds under Home Energy Assistance Act of 1980 for payments to public housing authorities.
7/27/2020