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 1411–1420 of 2202
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Authority of Interstate Commerce Commission Regarding Payment of Back Wages by Directed Rail Carrier
Interstate Commerce Commission—Directed Rail Carrier Service—Back Pay—49 U.S.C. § 11125 (Supp. II, 1978) 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/22161/download.
9/26/1979
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Representation of the Government of Panama by a Former Department of State Official in Connection with Proposed Legislation to Implement the Panama Canal Treaty
Conflicts of Interest—18 U.S.C. § 207—Former Executive Branch Officer 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/22156/download.
9/24/1979
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Applicability of the Immigration and Nationality Act to Aliens Working on Drilling Rigs on the Outer Continental Shelf
Outer Continental Shelf—Drilling Rigs—Alien Workers (43 U.S.C. § 1333) 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/22146/download.
9/21/1979
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Jurisdiction of Federal Labor Relations Council to Determine the Negotiability of National Guard Technician Dress and Grooming Regulations
National Guard—Technician Dress and Grooming Regulations—Executive Order No. 11491—Review of Decisions of Federal Labor Regulations Authority 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/22151/download.
9/21/1979
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Constitutionality of the Administration's Privacy Legislation
This memo considered the potential sources of constitutional authority for Congress to pass legislation regulating the collection and disclosure of personal information by a variety of financial institutions. The memo noted that Congress might justify the legislation as an expansion of Fourth Amendment privacy rights under the Enforcement Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, it cautioned that this would be a novel argument and concluded the Commerce Clause presented a stronger source of authority.
9/2/2022
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Residence Requirement for Assistant U.S. Attorneys
Assistant U.S. Attorney—Residence Requirement (28 U.S.C. § 545) 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/22141/download.
9/12/1979
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Legal Effect of Executive Order 12146 on Access to Agency Legal Opinions
This memo found that Executive Order 12146 did not impose a legal restriction on the discretion of federal agencies to determine that legal opinions may be withheld under Exemption 5 of the Freedom of Information Act. The order expressed a presidential policy goal that ”legal opinions should be disclosed in cases in which no harm will result from disclosure” but did not change any of the relevant statutory standards.
9/2/2022
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Litigating Authority of the Merit Systems Protection Board
Merit Systems Protection Board—Litigating Authority (5 U.S.C. § 1205) 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/22136/download.
9/11/1979
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Length of Term of Nominee to Merit Systems Protection Board
Merit Systems Protection Board—Term of Officer—Statutory Construction—5 U.S.C. § 1202 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/22131/download.
9/8/1979
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Attorney General Review of Decision by Board of Immigration Appeals on Jurisdiction of Immigration Judge
Immigration and Nationality Act—Alien Crewmen—Temporary Landing—Review by Attorney General of Decisions by Board of Immigration Appeals 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/22126/download.
9/5/1979