The OLC's Opinions
Opinions published by the OLC, including those released in response to our FOIA lawsuit
This Reading Room is the most comprehensive public database of 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 all unclassified OLC opinions written between 1945 and February 15, 1994. Those indexes are also available as a comprehensive list here and in .csv format here.
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 2151–2160 of 2189
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Government control of telephone and telegraph service
5/16/2022
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The Power of the President to Send American Troops to Palestine
This opinion concluded that executive intervention in Palestine, without Congressional approval, would “go considerably beyond existing precedents and would constitute a great extension of the Monroe Doctrine.” However, the opinion noted that the president could send troops to Palestine for the “limited purpose” of protecting the property of the United States or its citizens.
9/2/2022
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German Scientist Program of the Armed Services Departments
This memo attached a letter to the Immigration and Naturalization Service informing INS that the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency recommended the naturalization of Heinz Eugene Schmitt, one of the German Scientists in Operation Paperclip, and concluded his naturalization would not be contrary to the national security of the United States.
9/2/2022
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German Specialists and Scientists in the United States Under the Protective Custody of the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency
This opinion concurred with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s position that the FBI should be provided with the names of German scientists in the custody of the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency as part of Operation Paperclip. The OLC agreed that the FBI should be informed of the identities of the scientists and their dependents so that the agency could check any information it had about those individuals in its security files.
9/2/2022
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Presidential Authority to Call a Special Session of Congress
The President has the power, under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, to call a special session of the Congress during the current adjournment, in which the Congress now stands adjourned until January 2, 1948, unless in the meantime the President pro tempore of the Senate, the Speaker, and the majority leaders of both Houses jointly notify the members of both houses to reassemble. 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/20711/download.
10/17/1947
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Presidential Authority as Commander in Chief of the Air Force
The President is Commander in Chief of all the armed forces of the United States—the Air Force as well as the Army and the Navy. 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/20626/download.
8/26/1947
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Authority to Establish System of Universal Military Training
If Congress enacts legislation along the lines of either of two proposals for the establishment of a system of universal military training, supported by appropriate declarations of policy and findings of fact, such legislation would be well within the constitutional powers of the federal government. 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/20631/download.
5/22/1947
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Right of access of Federal Bureau of Investigation to confidential records of other Government agencies (particularly Census and Social Security)
5/16/2022
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Duties and Responsibilities of the FBI, as Affected by Proclamation of Cessation of Hostilities
This memo provided a list of relevant statutes that were affected by the president’s 1946 proclamation marking the cessation of hostilities. The attorney general noted that the state of war and national emergency continued despite the cessation of hostilities.
9/2/2022
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Philippine War Crimes Cases in the Supreme Court
5/16/2022