Download - Expanding Access to OLC Opinions
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Expanding Access to OLC Opinions
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OLC opinions are the Justice Department’s authoritative legal advice to the executive branch on
questions central to the functioning of government.
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Executive branch officials are capable of implementing, at times
secretly, policy programs that could otherwise be impermissible but for unreported OLC opinions providing them with legal cover.
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Department of Justice is withholding from online publication 39% of its 509
OLC opinions written between 1998 and 2012.
Sunlight Foundation
OLC Opinion Text on OLC Webpages (1998-2012)
UnavailableAvailable
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“In all events, OLC should in each administration consider the circumstances in
which advice should be kept confidential, with a presumption in favor of publication … [and] the
values of transparency and accountability remain constant, as do any existing legitimate rationales for secret executive branch law.”
(emphasis added)
- Philip HeymannHarvard Law Professor and former Director of the Justice
Department’s Criminal Division
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The Obama administration has refused to release a war on terror opinion that
reportedly authorized the use of armed drones to kill U.S. citizen
Al-Awlaki in Yemen.
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• Accurate accounting of how many memos are issued.
• Ability to determine the average wait for the release opinions.
• OLC opinions should be redacted as lightly as possible.• At a minimum the titles of all opinions should be made
public or at least descriptions of the opinions.
SOLUTIONS
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• Posted online in an easily searchable format.
• Any time the executive branch disregards a federal statutory requirement on constitutional grounds, the OLC should publicly release a clear statement explaining its deviation.
• Opinions should be released once the need for secrecy ends.
SOLUTIONS
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Making the processes, opinions, and standards of the department more transparent would also help restore the Justice Department’s tarnished
credibility.
- Philip HeymannHarvard Law Professor and former Director of the Justice
Department’s Criminal Division