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.

Showing 471–480 of 2202

  • Applicability of the Privacy Act to the White House

    The Privacy Act does not apply to the White House Office, which is also known as the Office of 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/file/19371/download.

    9/8/2000

  • Application of 18 U.S.C. § 209 to Employee-Inventors Who Receive Outside Royalty Payments

    A federal government employee who obtains patent rights to an invention made in the course of federal employment ordinarily does not violate 18 U S.C. § 209 by licensing the patent rights to a private entity and receiving royalty payments in exchange. 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/19376/download.

    9/7/2000

  • Constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 1120

    Congress has clear constitutional authonty to proscribe killings committed by escaped federal inmates serving life sentences, as provided in 18 U.S.C. § 1120, where the killings facilitate the escape or the avoidance of recapture. Congress's penological and custodial interests in ensuring the incapacitation of life-sentenced federal inmates provide compelling support for the constitutionality of 18 U.S C. § 1120 even when it is applied with respect to a post-escape killing that is not related to the escape or subsequent efforts to avoid recapture. 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/19381/download.

    8/31/2000

  • Whether a Former President May Be Indicted and Tried for the Same Offenses for Which He Was Impeached by the House and Acquitted by the Senate

    The Constitution permits a former President to be indicted and tried for the same offenses for which he was impeached by the House of Representatives and acquitted by the Senate. 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/19386/download.

    8/18/2000

  • Applicability of the Post-Employment Restrictions of 18 U.S.C. § 207(c) to Assignees Under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act

    The post-employment restrictions of 18 U S.C. § 207(c) apply to persons who are assigned from a university or a state or local government to the Department of Energy under the intergovernmental Personnel Act and are compensated at or above the ES-5 level, except for those who occupy positions ordinarily below the ES-5 level and who receive salaries only from the detailing employers, with the federal agency reimbursing those employers for an amount less than an ES-5 salary. 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/19396/download.

    6/26/2000

  • Division of Powers and Responsibilities Between the Chairperson of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and the Board as a Whole

    Under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and general principles governing the operation of boards, the day-to-day administration of Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board matters and execution of Board policies are the responsibilities of the chairperson, subject to Board oversight, while substantive policymaking and regulatory authority is vested in the Board as a whole. In disputes over the allocation of authority in specific instances, the Board's decision controls, as long as it is not arbitrary or unreasonable. 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/19391/download.

    6/26/2000

  • EPA Assessment of Penalties Against Federal Agencies for Violation of the Underground Storage Tank Requirements of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

    The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to assess penalties against federal agencies for violations of RCRA's underground storage tank provisions. EPA's underground storage tank field citation procedures do not violate RCRA or 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/19401/download.

    6/14/2000

  • Authority for Military Police to Issue Traffic Citations to Motorists on Bolling Air Force Base

    Military police have the authority to issue citations, enforceable in federal court, to motorists who violate traffic laws on Bolling Air Force Base. Congress has given the General Services Administration limited authority over military installations for the narrow purpose of issuing and enforcing the regulations related to motor vehicle violations. 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/19406/download.

    6/5/2000

  • Applicability of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act to Vacancies at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank

    The United Slates Executive Director and the Alternate United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are not part of an Executive agency, and therefore vacancies in those offices are not covered by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. 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/19411/download.

    5/11/2000

  • Continuation of Federal Prisoner Detention Efforts During United States Marshals Service Appropriation Deficiency

    It is doubtful that the "authorized by law" exception to the Antideficiency Act would allow the United States Marshals Service to continue to provide prisoner detention-related functions during a deficiency in its Federal Prisoner Detention budget, but it is likely that the "emergency" exceptions set forth in § 1342 and § 1515 of that statute would apply, in many, if not all, circumstances. 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/19416/download.

    4/5/2000

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