I. Reactions to the Recently Released OLC Opinions
Memos Provide Blueprint for Police State
by
Marjorie Cohn
Common Dreams.org, March 4, 2009
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/04The End of the Yoo Doctrine
By Jack Balkin [Yale Law School]
Balkinization, March 3, 2009
http://balkin.blogspot.com/2009/03/end-of-yoo-doctrine.htmlThe Newly Released Secret Laws
of the Bush Administration
by Glenn Greenwald
Salon, March 3, 2009
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/03/03/yoo/index.htmlhttp://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/03-14George W. Bush’s Disposable Constitution
By Scott Horton
No Comment blog, Harper's Magazine
March
3, 2009
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/03/hbc-90004488How Close the Bush Bullet
by Robert Parry
Consortium News, March 4, 2009
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/04-15Yoo and The Subversion of Liberty Narrowly Averted
by Naomi Wolf
Huffington Post, March 4, 2009
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/04-9DOJ Memos Reveal Legal Thinking Behind
Controversial Bush Terrorism Policy
Legal Guidance Gave U.S.
Military Broad Domestic Authority
by Ariane de Vogue, Pierre Thomas, and Jason Ryan
ABC News, March 3, 2009
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/03/03Release of Memos Fuels Push for Inquiry
Into Bush’s Terror-Fighting Policies
by Charlie Savage
and Neil A. Lewis
New York Times, March 4, 2009
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/03/04-0The Tortured Memos
NYT Editorial, March 4, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/opinion/04wed1.html?_r=1Among Experts, Consensus Builds for a Commission
By Scott Horton
No Comment blog, Harper's Magazine
March
4, 2009
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/03/hbc-90004494II. The March 2, 2009 Department of Justice Press
Release About the Two OLC Memos and the Seven
OLC
Opinions & the Actual Memos and Opinions
U.S. Department of Justice
Press Release, March 2, 2009
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-ag-181.htmlDepartment of Justice Releases Nine Office of
Legal Counsel Memoranda and Opinions
WASHINGTON --
The Department of Justice today
released two previously undisclosed Office of Legal
Counsel (OLC) memoranda and seven
previously
undisclosed opinions.
"Americans deserve a government that operates with
transparency and openness,"
said Attorney General
Eric Holder. "It is my goal to make OLC opinions
available when possible while still protecting
national
security information and ensuring robust internal
executive branch debate and decision-making."
The
two memoranda memorialized that certain legal
propositions in ten OLC opinions issued between 2001
and 2003 no longer
reflected the views of OLC and
"should not be treated as authoritative for any purpose."
They further explained that
some of the underlying opinions
had been withdrawn or superseded and that "caution should
be exercised" by the executive
branch "before relying in
other respects" on the other opinions that had not been
superseded or withdrawn.
In
light of the legitimate and substantial public interest in
many of the questions raised in those opinions and in the
evolution
of OLC’s views on those questions, the
Department has released the six of those underlying opinions
from 2001-2003
that are not classified and that had not
previously been disclosed.
In November 2008, the Department filed a motion
in a
pending civil action to submit two of those underlying
OLC opinions, along with one other, to the court under
s
eal. The Department has determined that there is no longer
any reason the three opinions should remain under seal
and
is therefore withdrawing its motion.
The opinions and memoranda are available at
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/olc-memos.htm.
Publicly Distributed Documents
Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Department of
Justice
March 2, 2009
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/olc-memos.htm
Memorandum Regarding Status of Certain OLC Opinions Issued in the Aftermath of the Terrorist Attacks of September
11, 2001 (01-15-2009)
[ http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/memostatusolcopinions01152009.pdf
January 15, 2009 Memo by Stephen Bradbury on the status of the
OLC opinions below. Essentially: no longer
authoritative and
should not be relied on as precedent or reflecting the current views of OLC.]
Memorandum
Regarding Constitutionality of Amending Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to Change the "Purpose" Standard for Searches
(09-25-2001)
Memorandum Regarding Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities within
the United States (10-23-2001)
Memorandum Regarding Authority of the President to Suspend Certain Provisions
of the ABM Treaty (11-15-2001)
Memorandum Regarding the President's Power as Commander in Chief to Transfer
Captured Terrorists to the Control and Custody of Foreign Nations (03-13-2002)
Memorandum Regarding Swift Justice
Authorization Act (04-08-2002)
Memorandum Regarding Determination of Enemy Belligerency and Military Detention
(06-08-2002)
Memorandum Regarding Applicability of 18 U.S.C. § 4001(a) to Military Detention of United States
Citizens (06-27-2002)
Memorandum Regarding October 23, 2001 OLC Opinion Addressing the Domestic Use of Military
Force to Combat Terrorist Activities (10-06-2008)
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/olc-memos.htm
III. The Initial New York Times Coverage After the DOJ Press Release
In Legal Memos, Clearer
View of Power Bush Sought
By NEIL A. LEWIS
New York Times, Published: March 2, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/us/politics/03legal.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
Post-9/11 Military Memos Are Released
By David Stout
Lede Blogs, New York Times.com
March 2, 2009
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/post-911-military-memos-are-released/?ref=politics
