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 121–130 of 2202
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Extending Regulatory Review Under Executive Order 12866 to Independent Regulatory Agencies
The President may direct independent regulatory agencies to comply with the centralized regulatory review process prescribed by Executive Order 12866. 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/1349716/download.
10/8/2019
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“Urgent Concern” Determination by the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community
This is the slip-opinion version of the declassified September 3 memorandum under the same title. 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/1205706/download.
9/24/2019
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“Urgent Concern” Determination by the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community
This opinion considers whether the Director of National Intelligence was required to inform the congressional intelligence committees that President Trump had allegedly pressured the Ukrainian president to pursue investigations that might assist his re-election bid during an official phone call on July 25, 2019, which was a possible violation of the campaign-finance law. The opinion concludes that the Director is not required to report the allged misconduct to Congress, since only "urgent concern" would trigger the statutory procedures that require expedited reporting and the alleged misconduct is not an "urgent concern." 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/1205151/download.
9/3/2019
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“Urgent Concern” Determination by the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community
This opinion considers whether the Director of National Intelligence was required to inform the congressional intelligence committees that President Trump had allegedly pressured the Ukrainian president to pursue investigations that might assist his re-election bid during an official phone call on July 25, 2019, which was a possible violation of the campaign-finance law. The opinion concludes that the Director is not required to report the allged misconduct to Congress, since only "urgent concern" would trigger the statutory procedures that require expedited reporting and the alleged misconduct is not an "urgent concern." 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/1205151/download.
9/3/2019
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Religious Restrictions on Capital Financing for Historically Black Colleges and Universities
The restriction in 20 U.S.C. § 1066c(c) on the Department of Education's authority to guarantee loans for capital improvements at historically black colleges and universities "in which a substantial portion of its functions is subsumed in a religious mission" violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The remaining restrictions in the statute can, and must, be construed to avoid further conflict with the Free Exercise Clause. We thus read section 1066c(c) and 20 U.S.C. § 1068e(1) to deny loans under the program only for facilities that are predominantly used for devotional religious activity, or for facilities that are part of an HBCU, or part of a department or branch of an HBCU, that offers only programs of instruction devoted to vocational religious education. 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/1350166/download.
8/15/2019
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Testimonial Immunity Before Congress of the Assistant to the President and Senior Counselor to the President
The Assistant to the President and Senior Counselor to the President is absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony in her capacity as a senior adviser to the President. 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/1183271/download.
7/12/2019
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Congressional Committee's Request for the President's Tax Returns Under 26 U.S.C. § 6103(f)
The provisions in 26 U.S.C. § 6103 protecting confidentiality of tax returns prohibited the Department of the Treasury from complying with a request by the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee for the President's tax returns. The text of section 6103(f), the statutory exception under which the request was made, does not require the Committee to state any purpose for its request. But Congress could not constitutionally confer upon the Committee the right to compel the Executive Branch to disclose confidential information without a legitimate legislative purpose. Under the facts and circumstances, the Secretary of the Treasury reasonably and correctly concluded that the Committee's asserted interest in reviewing the Internal Revenue Service's audits of presidential returns was pretextual and that its true aim was to make the President's tax returns public, which is not a legitimate legislative purpose. Because section 6103(a) prohibited the disclosure of the tax returns sought in the Chairman's request, as well as in the corresponding subpoenas, the Department of the Treasury's refusal to provide the information did not violate either 26 U.S.C. § 7214(a)(3) or 2 U.S.C. § 192. 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/1173756/download.
6/13/2019
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Assertion of Executive Privilege Over Deliberative Materials Regarding Inclusion of Citizenship Question on 2020 Census Questionnaire
The President may assert executive privilege over "priority documents" relating to the Secretary of Commerce's decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census questionnaire that the House Committee on Oversight and Reform has demanded as responsive to its subpoenas. The "priority documents" all involve pre-decisional deliberative material, attorney-client communications, or attorney work product. The President may make a protective assertion of executive privilege over the remaining subpoenaed documents to give time for the Departments of Commerce and Justice to determine whether any remaining documents may be subject to privilege. 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/1350186/download.
6/11/2019
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Attempted Exclusion of Agency Counsel from Congressional Depositions of Agency Employees
Congress may not constitutionally prohibit agency counsel from accompanying agency employees called to testify about matters that potentially involve information protected by executive privilege. Such a prohibition would impair the President's constitutional authority to control the disclosure of privileged information and to supervise the Executive Branch's communications with Congress. Congressional subpoenas that purport to require agency employees to appear without agency counsel are legally invalid and are not subject to civil or criminal enforcement. 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/1215056/download.
5/23/2019
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Testimonial Immunity Before Congress of the Former Counsel to the President
The immunity of the President's immediate advisers from compelled congressional testimony on matters related to their official responsibilities has long been recognized and arises from the fundamental workings of the separation of powers. This immunity applies to former senior advisers such as the former White House Counsel. Accordingly, the former Counsel is not legally required to appear and testify about matters related to his official duties as Counsel to the President. The President does not waive an adviser's immunity from compelled congressional testimony by authorizing disclosure of any particular information. The disclosure's impact on executive privilege does not ultimately bear on any underlying immunity from compelled testimony. Because Congress may not constitutionally compel the former Counsel to testify about his official duties, he may not be civilly or criminally penalized for following a presidential directive not to appear. The same rationale applies equally to an exercise of inherent contempt powers against a senior aide who has complied with a presidential direction that he not provide testimony to a congressional committee. 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/1215066/download.
5/20/2019