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 1711–1720 of 2202
-
DEA/State Intelligence Studies and the Privacy Act
9/2/2022
-
Application of Wiretap Law Outside the United States
This memo found that Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act did not apply outside of the United States.
9/2/2022
-
Use of Troops in Vietnam and Cambodia
This memo concluded that the president had the constitutional authority to deploy troops for the purpose of evacuating Americans from Vietnam and Cambodia, and that the conduct would not violate any appropriations acts. The opinion also advised the attorney general that the president’s actions would be consistent with the War Powers Resolution because of the provision in the resolution that stated it was not intended to “alter the constitutional authority” of the President, and the president’s conduct was constitutional.
9/2/2022
-
Establishing a Maximum Entry Age Limit for "Law Enforcement Officer Positions in the Department of Justice"
This opinion evaluates whether the Department of Justice may create a maximum entry age for DOJ law enforcement officers that is consistent with 5 U.S.C. § 3307, which allows agencies to "fix" maximum entry ages for law enforcement professionals, and 29 U.S.C. § 633(a), which prohibits age discrimination in hiring unless the Civil Service Commission determines that it is a bona fide occupational qualification. The opinion concludes that the a Commission determination would not be required, because § 3307 is the more recently enacted statute and the two provisions can be read harmoniously. 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/936041/download.
4/3/1975
-
Applicability of the Freedom of Information Act to the White House Office
9/2/2022
-
Use of Material Obtained through Electronic Surveillance
This memo considered whether IRS employees could use information obtained through electronic surveillance under Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. It determined that Title III authorized the disclosure and subsequent use of such information to IRS employees acting in the course of their official duties.
9/2/2022
-
Law Relating to Civil Disturbances
9/2/2022
-
Legality of Appointment of Mayor of Columbus, Ohio to the National Commission for Manpower Policy
4/28/2020
-
Opinion from this Office relating to the Mescalero Apache tribe's need for additional land for their ski resort.
4/28/2020
-
Payment of Mrs. Virginia H. Knauer's Travel Expense by a Private Organization
4/28/2020