The U.S. Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel regularly is called upon to advise executive agencies on matters ranging from the extent of executive privilege to the lawfulness of recess appointments.The department has disclosed hundreds of opinions — check out the OLC website to read them — but not every legal memo has seen the light of public scrutiny. Last week, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued DOJ to try to obtain "all binding opinions" OLC has issued.
"There exists within OLC and DOJ a body of law that, while binding on the executive branch, is not accessible to the public," CREW executive director Melanie Sloan and chief counsel Anne Weismann wrote in the complaint.
