Change in Continuity at the Office of Legal Counsel

Authors

Samuel A. Alito Jr., United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Abstract

The papers presented by Professors Kmiec and McGinnis have certainly contributed a great deal to an understanding of the Attorney General's opinion-writing function and the role of the Office of Legal Counsel ("OLC") in the performance of that function. There is much in their papers with which I fully agree and not too much with which I disagree. I think it is important, however, to say a bit about historical context, particularly since we have a. new administration in Washington and new leadership in the Department of Justice. To the extent that OLC has a distinctive outlook on legal questions, it is shaped by two forces: first, the interests of the executive branch as a continuing institution, and second, the views of the particular administration or the relevant administration oficials. Anyone who ignores either of these forces will be surprised by how OLC functions.

Keywords

Business and the Law, National Security, Executive Branch

Disciplines

Law

Recommended Citation

Samuel A. Alito Jr., Change in Continuity at the Office of Legal Counsel, 15 Cardozo L. Rev. 507 (1993).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol15/iss1/26