The OLC
Astrid Da Silva

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.

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  • Use of FY 2009/2010 Funds by the General Services Administration to Assist the Department of Veterans Affairs in Acquiring Human Resources for FY 2012

    The Department of Veterans Affairs properly obligated its Fiscal Year 2009/2010 funds when it and the General Services Administration signed an interagency agreement in August 2010, under which GSA agreed to assist the VA in obtaining a new contract for the provision of human resources. GSA may use those funds in Fiscal Year 2012 to perform its obligations under the interagency agreement without running afoul of the requirement, developed by the Government Accountability Office, that servicing agencies acting under interagency agreements perform within a "reasonable time." 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/2012-03-02-gsa-use-funds/download.

    3/2/2012

  • State of Residence Requirements for Firearms Transfers

    Section 922(b)(3) of title 18, which forbids federal firearms licensees from selling or delivering "any firearm to any person who the licensee knows or has reasonable cause to believe does not reside in . . . the State in which the licensee's place of business is located," cannot be interpreted to define "reside in . . . the State" differently for citizens and aliens. 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/2012-01-30-firearms-xfers/download.

    1/30/2012

  • Recess Appointments Amid Pro Forma Senate Sessions

    A twenty-day Senate recess may give rise to presidential authority to make recess appointments. Congress's provision for pro forma sessions during that twenty-day period does not have the legal effect of interrupting the recess for purposes of the Recess Appointments Clause. In this context, the President has discretion to conclude that the Senate is unavailable to perform its advise-and-consent function and may exercise his power to make recess appointments. 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/2012-01-06-recess-appts/download.

    1/6/2012

  • Service Credit for Retirement Annuities of USPS Employees When USPS Has Not Made Required Contributions

    The Office of Personnel Management may not address the United States Postal Service's failure to make statutorily required retirement contributions by denying its employees accrued service credit under the Federal Employees' Retirement System during their periods of qualifying 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/olc/file/2011-11-01-serv-credit-usps/download.

    11/1/2011

  • Firearms Disabilities of Nonimmigrant Aliens Under the Gun Control Act

    The prohibition in 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(B) of shipping, transporting, possessing, or receiving any firearm or ammunition that has a connection to interstate commerce applies only to nonimmigrant aliens who must have visas to be admitted to the United States, not to all aliens with nonimmigrant status. The text of the statute forecloses the interpretation advanced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in an interim final rule applying section 922(g)(5)(B) to all nonimmigrant aliens. 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/2011-10-28-firearms-nonimmig-aliens/download.

    10/28/2011

  • Potential Litigation Between the Department of Labor and the United States Postal Service

    The Attorney General has authority under 39 U.S.C. § 409(g)(2) to allow the United States Postal Service to direct its own defense of a suit filed against it by the Department of Labor, alleging that USPS has violated a whistleblower provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. USPS may contract with private counsel to conduct the litigation on USPS's behalf, consistent with the Appointments Clause. If the Attorney General opts to allow USPS to direct its own defense, the suit will fall within the constitutional authority of the Article III courts. 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/2011-10-26-dol-usps-litig/download.

    10/26/2011

  • Whether the Wire Act Applies to Non-Sports Gambling

    Interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a "sporting event or contest" fall outside the reach of the Wire Act. Because the proposed New York and Illinois lottery proposals do not involve wagering on sporting events or contests, the Wire Act does not prohibit them. 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/2011-09-20-wire-act-non-sports-gambling/download.

    9/20/2011

  • Prohibition of Spending for Engagement of the Office of Science and Technology Policy with China

    Section 1340(a) of division B of the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, which purports to prevent the Office of Science and Technology Policy from using appropriated funds "to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement, or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company," is unconstitutional as applied to certain activities undertaken pursuant to the President's constitutional authority to conduct the foreign relations of the United States. The plain terms of section 1340(a) do not apply to OSTP's use of funds to perform its functions as a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. 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/2011-09-19-ostp-china/download.

    9/19/2011

  • GAO Access to National Directory of New Hires

    Title 42, section 653(l) of the U.S. Code prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services from providing the Government Accountability Office access to personally identifiable information from the National Directory of New Hires, notwithstanding GAO's general access provision, 31 U.S.C. § 716(a). 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/2011-08-23-gao-ndnh/download.

    8/23/2011

  • Extending the Term of the FBI Director

    It would be constitutional for Congress to enact legislation extending the term of Robert S. Mueller, III, as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 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/2011-06-20-extend-fbi-dir-term/download.

    6/20/2011

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