We are going to try this again. I will explain this amended blog in a comment.

PROLOGUE

I am sitting listening to a tape of a discussion with the Mississippi Freedom Riders on CSPAN dated July 19, 2008. There was present Lewis Zuchman, Eric Etheridge,  Robert Singleton,  and Helen Singleton and they are talking about their part in in the Civil Rights Movement of the early sisties. Eric was talking about the segregated jail cells in Mississippi. And there was amongst these black and white protesters some darker skinned Jewish people. So Sheriff Andy Taylor is yelling at this Jewish guy and asking him if he is black or white. And the Jewish guy kept saying things like "You see, it really doesn't matter that much does it?"And the sheriff is getting madder and madder and was initially going to put him with the Blacks.

Then there was a horrendous story about a man they had met in prison who had been a minister. One day during services the police came into his church and he raised a ruckus. At the time the Riders came across him, this minister had been held in prison for fifteen years WITHOUT A TRIAL AND WITHOUT CHARGES FILED. IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

What I attempted to do yesterday, and I am trying to do again today is to simply introduce people to the Office of Legal Counsel.  I attempted to give a little history of this strange political and governmental animal. I wanted to point out that there are three branches of government, regardless of dicky c's views.

There are the federal courts or Federal Judiciary headed by the Supreme Court.

There is Congress composed of two Houses. The House of Representatives and the Senate.

And there is the Executive Branch of Government headed by the President of the United States.

We usually think of Congress as passing the legislation that becomes law.

We think of the President as executing those laws.

And the Courts are there to interpret the laws.

But it is not that simple. The separate branches of government work together on many things out of necessity.

If the President signs onto the legislation, a simple majority of both houses of Congress is all that is needed. If the President vetoes the legislation, Congress needs a 2/3 vote to override the veto.

So too, Congress has powers under the Constitution with regard to defining the jursidiction of the Federal Judiciary.

What must be pointed out is that the Executive Branch has a hand in contruing legislation and in determining the constitutionality of that legislation.  

At first, Presidents like Jefferson acted as their own Office of Legal Counsel in a way. Although the Attorney General was the real Office of Legal Counsel.

The Office of Legal Counsel was created in 1934 by an act of Congress, as part of a larger reorganization of executive branch administrative agencies. It was first headed by an assistant solicitor general. In 1951, Attorney General J. Howard McGrath gave it division status with an assistant attorney general in charge, and named it the Executive Adjudications Division. This was changed to Office of Legal Counsel in an administrative order by Attorney General Brownell, issued April 3, 1953.[1] Wikipedia   

So in looking at the Office of Legal Counsel we can see that it was created by an Act of Congress. And it was first headed by an Assistant Solicitor General and now is headed by an Assistant Attorney General. Created by Congress. Very important. And sort of part of the Department of Justice and sort of an entity on its own.

Now we move onto the function of the Office of Legal Counsel.  

The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) assists the Attorney General of the United States in his function as legal adviser to the President and all the executive branch agencies. (Hence the appellation "the president's law firm."[2]) The OLC drafts legal opinions of the Attorney General and also provides its own written opinions and oral advice in response to requests from the Counsel to the President, the various agencies of the executive branch, and offices within the Department of Justice. Such requests typically deal with legal issues of particular complexity and importance or about which two or more agencies are in disagreement. The Office also is responsible for providing legal advice to the executive branch on all constitutional questions and reviewing pending legislation for constitutionality. The decisions of the Office are binding on all executive agencies.(Wikipedia)

If you just google (I happen to Yahoo) Office of Legal Counsel you will discover that almost every state has its own.  We, the people, are not just governed by the Federal Government but by  50 state governments with their own tripartite divisions.

But if you come to this link you will come to the official blog for the Federal Office of Legal Counsel:http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/

The site has an introduction which confirms what Wikipedia is saying:

By delegation from the Attorney General, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel provides authoritative legal advice to the President and all the Executive Branch agencies. The Office drafts legal opinions of the Attorney General and also provides its own written opinions and oral advice in response to requests from the Counsel to the President, the various agencies of the Executive Branch, and offices within the Department. Such requests typically deal with legal issues of particular complexity and importance or about which two or more agencies are in disagreement. The Office also is responsible for providing legal advice to the Executive Branch on all constitutional questions and reviewing pending legislation for constitutionality.

All executive orders and proclamations proposed to be issued by the President are reviewed by the Office of Legal Counsel for form and legality, as are various other matters that require the President's formal approval.

In addition to serving as, in effect, outside counsel for the other agencies of the Executive Branch, the Office of Legal Counsel also functions as general counsel for the Department itself. It reviews all proposed orders of the Attorney General and all regulations requiring the Attorney General's approval. It also performs a variety of special assignments referred by the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General.

The Office of Legal Counsel is not authorized to give legal advice to private persons.   

The only point of this part of my blog on this was to provide an outline defining what the OLC is, how it was created, and what it does.  But I also wanted to stress how powerful the office is.

If you are part of the Department of Natural Resources in Minnesota, and a new series of regulations are being issued pursuant to some statutory authority, you will probably end up in the Minnesota OLC asking for an opinion as to whether or not these regulations are in line with that statutory authority before issuing the regulations.

The same thing would apply on the Federal level for the EPA. And most people at TPM Cafe know that the EPA has had some splainin to do lately with regard to its regulations and its interpretation of those regulations.

Now just multiply this one example times all the departments of the Federal Government and you get an idea how much work the OLC is responsible for. And understand that before the President signs legislation, he will have opinions from the OLC involving its opinion as to constitutionality. And later on there will be questions as to how to interpret certain provisions in that legislation.

A good example of the immense proportions of this is the recent one thousand page Stimulus Package that Representative Boner (pronounced Banyner) likes to throw on the floor.

The other point that I was attempting to demonstrate was the power of the judiciary in general. Courts in Mississippi thought it was all right to keep a Black Minister in prison for fifteen years without charging him with a crime or giving him a trial. That could not have happened without those state courts. And this had occurred before the 1964 &  1965 Civil Rights legislation.  The Federal Government at that time did not always oversee such injustices as what had occurred to that Black Minister.

What I had tried to point out to Olden Golden yesterday in another blog (probably with my own lack of acuity) was that if you put sixteen attorneys in a room and asked them to interpret a 100 page piece of legislation. you would probably get sixteen different opinions and eventually there would be some disagreement as to what the real meaning of 'is' is.I have actually read cases where the meaning of the word 'shall' was at issue.

Now, I am not an attorney. I certainly am not a constitutional lawyer or expert.But as a lay person I am starting a discussion as to allegations of impropriety that occurred within the OLC over the last eight years. There are very important people involve that we have all read about.

There is John Yoo, Gonzo, and many others. The OLC issued all sorts memos, legal opinions concerning the legality of certain actions the Executive branch wished to take with regard to imprisonment of individuals with no charges being brought, no attorney being provided, no opportunity to speak to family members or friends. There was definitely, in my view, torture that occurred during the  Iast eight years under the direction of the Executive Branch and with its knowledge and approval.  Prisoners were sent to other countries in addition to our base in Cuba.  Wiretapping American Citizens in America was approved without a warrant procured.
Under the direction of the Executive branch and with its knowledge and approval.
Propaganda concerning all  these issues and more were sent out for public consumption.
I would point out that none of these actions occurred without opinions issued by the OLC.

And If you think that our country is incapable of such things.  Think about that Black Minister I heard about today.  Some Mississippi OLC okayed that.

Greenwald at Salon has tons of articles on this subject. TPM has covered so many perspectives on this. Daily Beast is always a good source of information. The NYT of course has mounds of printed paper on this. For fun I just hit search on Newsweek Magazine on this issue:

http://services.newsweek.com//search.aspx?offset=0&pageSize=10&sortField...

 Report Delayed New Window
 Filip also insisted that detailed responses from the three former senior lawyers at the department's Office of Legal Counsel--Jay Bybee, John Yoo and Steven Bradbury--be included as part of the final copy of the report, one former
February 16, 2009 | Politics | By Michael Isikoff
http://www.newsweek.com/id/185072
#
A Torture Report Could Spell Big Trouble For Bush Lawyers New Window

two former top officials--Jay Bybee and John Yoo--as well as that of Steven Bradbury, who was chief of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the time the report was submitted, the sources said. (Bybee, Yoo and Bradbury did not respond to
February 14, 2009 | Periscope | By Michael Isikoff
http://www.newsweek.com/id/184801
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Imagining Life Without Lawyers New Window

echoes criticism recently leveled by former Bush administration lawyer Jack Goldsmith. Goldsmith, who ran the Office of Legal Counsel for a time, warned in his 2007 book, "The Terror Presidency," of a post-Watergate government culture in
January 31, 2009 | Dahlia Lithwick on Legal Issues | By Dahlia Lithwick
http://www.newsweek.com/id/182569
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The Politics Of Vengeance New Window

s delegated authority.) We also know that the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department felt it their task tothe top of my list would be to give Justice's Office of Legal Counsel a mandate of independence--with, on the toughest
January 19, 2009 | Politics: The Obama Presidency | By John Barry
http://www.newsweek.com/id/180442
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Obama's Cheney Dilemma New Window

obscure but critically important unit called the Office of Legal Counsel. OLC acts as a kind of lawyer for the executive branchcertainly be some. Obama has chosen as head of the Office of Legal Counsel--Jack Goldsmith's old job--Dawn Johnsen, an
January 10, 2009 | Politics: The Obama Presidency | By Stuart Taylor Jr. and Evan Thomas
http://www.newsweek.com/id/178855
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Now We Know What the Battle Was About New Window

mining program had begun with a blessing by John Yoo, an ultraconservative lawyer in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Yoo was a close ally of hard-line lawyers in the White House and worked closely with David Addington, Vice
December 13, 2008 | National News | By Daniel Klaidman
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174602
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Breaking The Will New Window

Judge Jay Bybee, who wrote memos about interrogation methods when he served as head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel six years ago. One of those memos, dated Aug. 1, 2002, gave an extremely restrictive definition of torture
December 11, 2008 | Voices - Terror Watch | By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
http://www.newsweek.com/id/173870
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No Small Task For Eric Holder New Window

GOP. Secret memos produced by the department's Office of Legal Counsel authorized brutal interrogation techniques andrestoring the integrity and independence of the Office of Legal Counsel, which advises the president on the lawfulness
November 22, 2008 | Dahlia Lithwick on Legal Issues | By Dahlia Lithwick
http://www.newsweek.com/id/170382
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Closing the Door New Window

Cheney's 302 report were to be publicly disclosed seemed a stretch. (The legal claims were prepared in part by Office of Legal Counsel chief Stephen Bradbury, whose legal opinions on interrogation and torture have come under fire from Congress
July 16, 2008 | Voices - Terror Watch | By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
http://www.newsweek.com/id/146651
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The Truth About Torture New Window

interrogation methods found legal by administration lawyers, and in particular by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). According to long tradition, the OLC is considered a sort of Supreme Court of the executive branch
July 12, 2008 | Politics | By Stuart Taylor Jr.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/145842

I hope you will review this and go to the OLC Site. Join in the discussion and feel free to set up your own blog.  Oh and anyone who just wants to take the burden off of me. Fine. I will comment on your site.  As a matter of Fact I think I would like CarolG or TheraP to do this anyway. The issues besides torture include prisons, charges, rights to attorneys, right to trial, wiretapping foreign and domestic, and Gitmo. But within the OLC itself or the DOJ for that matter, the part that politics played in hiring practices. Hiring practices within the OLC. So too, what was communication like between OLC and w and the VP's office...