U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) led a bipartisan inquiry on Monday into how the Office of Legal Council (OLC) renders opinions related to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
In response to the OLC’s tendency to render informal advice rather than written opinions on FOIA requests, Chaffetz and U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) requested clarification of the policy in a letter to the Department of Justice (DoJ).
“The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) provides ‘authoritative legal advice to the president and all the executive branch agencies,’” the congressmen wrote. “In this role, OLC has historically authored numerous opinions that provide ‘controlling legal advice’ to executive branch agencies. At times, OLC is ‘asked to opine on issues of first impression that are unlikely to be resolved by the courts – a circumstance in which OLC’s advice may effectively be the final word on the controlling law.’”
Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Cummings, the committee’s ranking member, requested specific documents pertaining to OLC opinion-making decisions dating as far back as 2005.
“The transparency of OLC opinions has been a topic of public and congressional interest,” the lawmakers wrote. “Notably, a recent news report indicates that Central Intelligence Agency general counsel Caroline Krass stated at an event that more frequent requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and concerns about opinions being made public ‘has served as a deterrent to some in terms of coming to the OLC to ask for an opinion.’”
Chaffetz and Cummings wrote that the documents they requested would help the committee understand OLC’s internal processes and the work that the council performs.