Office of Legal Counsel
The Office of Legal Counsel is an American government legal office in the U.S. Department of Justice.
History
The Office of Legal Counsel was created in 1934 by an act of Congress, as part of a larger reorganization of executive branch administrative agencies. It was first headed by an assistant solicitor general. In 1951, Attorney General J. Howard McGrath gave it division status with an assistant attorney general in charge, and named it the Executive Adjudications Division. This was changed to Office of Legal Counsel in an administrative order by Attorney General Brownell, issued April 3, 1953. [Source is "The Department of Justice" by Luther A. Huston, published by Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1967]
Responsibilities
The Office of Legal Counsel assists the Attorney General in his function as legal adviser to the President and all the executive branch agencies. The Office drafts legal opinions of the Attorney General and also provides its own written opinions and oral advice in response to requests from the Counsel to the President, the various agencies of the executive branch, and offices within the Department of Justice. Such requests typically deal with legal issues of particular complexity and importance or about which two or more agencies are in disagreement. The Office also is responsible for providing legal advice to the executive branch on all constitutional questions and reviewing pending legislation for constitutionality.
List of Assistant Attorneys General for the Office of Legal Counsel
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- Abraham J. Harris ((sometime after 1950)-?)
- J. Lee Rankin (1953-1956)
- W. Wilson White (1957-1957), after a short tenure, selected to be first head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division
- Malcolm R. Wilkey (1958-?)
- Nicholas deB. Katzenbach (1961-1962)
- Erwin Griswold (?)
- Frank Wozencraft (1966-1969)
- William H. Rehnquist (1969-1971), later nominated and confirmed as Associate, and subsequent Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
- R E Erickson (?-1972)
- R C Crampton (1972-?)
- Antonin Scalia (1974-1977), later nominated and confirmed as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
- John M. Harmon (1977-?)
- Theodore B. Olson (1981-1984), later became U.S. Solicitor General
- Charles J. Cooper (1985-1988)
- Douglas Kmiec (1988-1989)
- William P. Barr (1989-1990)
- Timothy Flanigan (1990-1992)
- Walter Dellinger (1993-1994), later became Acting U.S. Solicitor General
- Beth Nolan, nominated, but became White House Counsel before confirmed
- Dawn Johnsen, served as Acting AAG from 1996-1998
- Randolph D. Moss
- M. Edward Whelan III
- John Yoo(2001-2003)
- Jay S. Bybee, in charge when the OLC issued the "Torture memo"
- Jack Goldsmith, professor at Harvard Law School and author of The Terror Presidency (after resigning from OLC)
- Steven G. Bradbury, acting Assistant Attorney General, formally nominated to the position by President Bush on January 9, 2007
In the news
According to Newsweek magazine, the OLC "is the most important government office you've never heard of. Among its bosses -- before they went on the Supreme Court -- were William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia. Within the executive branch, including the Pentagon and CIA, the OLC acts as a kind of mini Supreme Court. Its carefully worded opinions are regarded as binding precedent -- final say on what the president and all his agencies can and cannot legally do." ("Palace Revolt" by Daniel Klaidman, Stuart Taylor Jr. and Evan Thomas. Newsweek, February 6, 2006, Pg. 34)
All executive orders and proclamations proposed to be issued by the President are reviewed by the Office of Legal Counsel for form and legality, as are various other matters that require the President's formal approval.
In addition to serving as, in effect, outside counsel for the other agencies of the executive branch, the Office of Legal Counsel also functions as general counsel for the Department of Justice itself. It reviews all proposed orders of the Attorney General and all regulations requiring the Attorney General's approval.
The Office is currently run by Steven G. Bradbury, who is not yet fully confirmed for the position and is therefore the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. He has in fact overstayed the maximum time as an Acting Assistant Attorney General, and therefore does not hold that title officially.[citation needed]
