Models of the Opinion Function of the Attorney General: A Normative, Descriptive, and Historical Prolegomenon

Authors

John O. McGinnis, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Abstract

The judiciary is not the only branch of government that offers authoritative constructions of the Constitution and other federal laws. Since the beginning of the Republic, the executive branch has made formal pronouncements on constitutional and statutory issues of such a substantial scope and variety that they rival the opinions of the Supreme Court. A public recording of the executive branch's most authoritative legal voice is contained in forty-three volumes of published opinions of the Attorney General and sixteen volumes of published opinions of the Office of Legal Counsel ("OLC")-the office to which the Attorney General now delegates the great majority of his legal opinion writing. These published opinions are only the tip of the iceberg. In OLC's library sit at least five filing cabinets of largely unpublished opinions dating from the time of OLC's creation in 1932. Biographies of former Attorneys General also report the existence of important unpublished opinions and memoranda of advice from past Attorneys General.

Keywords

Constitutional Law, Legal History, Executive Branch, Military Law and Justice, Employees, Employment, Government (General)

Disciplines

Constitutional Law | Law | Legal History

Recommended Citation

John O. McGinnis, Models of the Opinion Function of the Attorney General: A Normative, Descriptive, and Historical Prolegomenon, 15 Cardozo L. Rev. 375 (1993).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol15/iss1/24