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 1441–1450 of 2202
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Applicability of the Antideficiency Act to the Peace Corps
Budget Authority—Statutory Construction—Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 665)—Applicability to the Directors of the Peace Corps and ACTION 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/22026/download.
6/18/1979
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Settlement of Litigation in Which the U.S. Postal Service Is Represented by the Department of Justice
Settlement of Litigation—Authority of the Postal Service (39 U.S.C. §§ 409, 2008)—Authority of the Attorney General (28 U.S.C. §§ 516, 519) 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/22021/download.
6/15/1979
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Applicability of the Double Jeopardy Clause to Successive Prosecutions by the United States and the District of Columbia
District of Columbia—Applicability of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to 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 www.justice.gov/file/22016/download.
6/14/1979
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The President's Authority to Redesignate a Member as Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board
Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board—Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1977 (5 U.S.C. App.)—Resignations—The President's Authority to Redesignate a Member as Chairman 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/22011/download.
6/14/1979
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Authority of the Secretary of Commerce to Guarantee Payment of Interest on Loans Made to Private Borrowers by Private Lending Institutions
Loans—Department of Commerce—Guarantee of Payment of Interest—42 U.S.C. § 3142 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/22006/download.
5/30/1979
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Conflict of Interest Questions Concerning Department of Agriculture Official
(1) Conflict of Interest—Financial Interest (18 U.S.C. § 208)—Husband and Wife; (2) Executive Order No. 11222—Appearance of Conflict of Interest 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/21996/download.
5/29/1979
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Whether FBI Interception of Radio Transmissions Constitutes "Electronic Surveillance" Under Section 101(f) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (50 U.S.C. § 1801)—Interception of Radio Communication—Constitutional Law—Fourth Amendment—Privacy 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/22001/download.
5/29/1979
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Delegation of Authority to State Governors in End-User Gasoline Allocation Program
Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973 (15 U.S.C. § 751)—The President—Constitutional Law (Article II, Section 2, Clause 2)—Delegation of Authority to State Governors in End-user Gasoline Allocation Program 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/21991/download.
5/25/1979
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Arbitration of Contract Claim by Private Commercial Bank Against the Export-Import Bank
Arbitration—Export-Import Bank—Sovereign Immunity—Representation of Bank by Department of Justice 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/21986/download.
5/22/1979
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Limitation on the Opinion Function of the Office of Legal Counsel
Office of Legal Counsel—Limitation on Opinion Function 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/21976/download.
5/22/1979