Sec. 214. Publication of budget or appropriations law opinions of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel
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/bill/116/hr/6628/ih/section-214A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Each final opinion issued by the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice relating to section 1301(a), 1341, 1342, 1501, 1502, 1512, 1513, 1515, 1517, or 3302(b) of title 31, United States Code, any provision of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, an appropriation Act, continuing resolution, or another provision of law providing or governing appropriations or budget authority shall be made available on its public website in a manner that is searchable, sortable, and downloadable in its entirety as soon as is practicable, but— not later than 30 days after the opinion is issued or updated if such action takes place on or after the date of enactment of this Act; not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after January 20, 1993; not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after January 20, 1981, and before or on January 19, 1993; not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after January 20, 1969, and before or on January 19, 1981; and not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this Act for all other opinions.
A final OLC opinion or part thereof may be withheld only to the extent— information contained in the opinion was— specifically authorized to be kept secret, under criteria established by an Executive order, in the interest of national defense or foreign policy; properly classified, including all procedural and marking requirements, pursuant to such Executive order; the Attorney General determines that the national defense or foreign policy interests protected outweigh the public’s interest in access to the information; and put through declassification review within the past two years; information contained in the opinion relates to the appointment of a specific individual not confirmed to Federal office; information contained in the opinion is specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than sections 552 and 552b of title 5, United States Code), if such statute— requires that the material be withheld in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue; or establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of material to be withheld; information in the opinion includes trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential whose disclosure would likely cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the person from whom the information was obtained; the President, in his or her sole and nondelegable determination, formally and personally claims in writing that executive privilege prevents the release of the information and disclosure would cause specific identifiable harm to an interest protected by an exception or the disclosure is prohibited by law; or information in the opinion includes personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
Any determination under this subsection to withhold information contained in a final OLC opinion shall be made by the Attorney General or a designee of the Attorney General. The determination shall be— in writing; made available to the public within the same timeframe as is required of a formal OLC opinion; sufficiently detailed as to inform the public of what kind of information is being withheld and the reason therefore; and effective only for a period of 3 years, subject to review and reissuance, with each reissuance made available to the public.
For final OLC opinions for which the text is withheld in full or in substantial part, a detailed unclassified summary of the opinion shall be made available to the public, in the same timeframe as required of the final OLC opinion, that conveys the essence of the opinion, including any interpretations of a statute, the Constitution, or other legal authority. A notation shall be included in any published list of OLC opinions regarding the extent of the withholdings. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as limiting the availability of information under section 552 of title 5, United States Code or construed as an exemption under paragraph
(3)of subsection
(b)of such section. A decision by the Attorney General to release or withhold information pursuant to this Act shall not preclude any action or relief conferred by statutory or regulatory regime that empowers any person to request or demand the release of information. Any reasonably segregable portion of an opinion shall be provided after withholding of the portions which are exempt under this section. The amount of information withheld, and the exemption under which the withholding is made, shall be indicated on the released portion of the opinion, unless including that indication would harm an interest protected by the exemption in this paragraph under which the withholding is made. If technically feasible, the amount of the information withheld, and the exemption under which the withholding is made, shall be indicated at the place in the opinion where such withholding is made. The Attorney General shall publish each final OLC opinion to the extent the law permits, including by publishing the opinions on a publicly accessible website that— with respect to each opinion— contains an electronic copy of the opinion, including any transmittal letter associated with the opinion, in an open format that is platform independent and that is available to the public without restrictions; provides the public the ability to retrieve an opinion, to the extent practicable, through searches based on— the title of the opinion; the date of publication or revision; or the full text of the opinion; identifies the time and date when the opinion was required to be published, and when the opinion was transmitted for publication; and provides a permanent means of accessing the opinion electronically; includes a means for bulk download of all OLC opinions or a selection of opinions retrieved using a text-based search; provides free access to the opinions, and does not charge a fee, require registration, or impose any other limitation in exchange for access to the website; and is capable of being upgraded as necessary to carry out the purposes of this section. In this section: The term OLC opinion means views on a matter of legal interpretation communicated by the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice to any other office or agency, or person in an office or agency, in the Executive Branch, including any office in the Department of Justice, the White House, or the Executive Office of the President, and rendered in accordance with sections 511–513 of title 28, United States Code. Where the communication of the legal interpretation takes place verbally, a memorialization of that communication qualifies as an OLC opinion . The term final OLC opinion means an OLC opinion that— the Attorney General, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, or a Deputy Assistant General for the Office of Legal Counsel, has determined is final; government officials or government contractors are relying on or have relied on; is or has been relied upon to formulate legal guidance; or is cited in another Office of Legal Counsel opinion.