Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Office of Legal Counsel Publishes New “Secret Law” Opinions

POGO: “The Justice Department’s little-known but powerful Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) has published the titles and text of four previously withheld opinions as part of a larger release of opinions on its website. The release, which occurred on July 5 and has not been reported until now, came after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) appeal from the Project On Government Oversight that OLC formally replied to last week. The most surprising part of the newly published opinions is how utterly unworthy of redaction they ever were. “After carefully considering your appeal, and as a result of discussions between OLC personnel and this Office, I am releasing additional portions of one page to you,” wrote a Justice Department official who handled POGO’s appeal. POGO sought the names, dates, and authors of five out of seven unclassified OLC opinions issued in the first half of 2017. POGO had obtained a one-page list of opinions, but information for these five opinions was originally redacted. The Justice Department released a new list revealing information about four of the five opinions; however, the name and author of one OLC opinion, issued shortly before the end of the Obama Administration, remains redacted…”

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.