I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4556 

To provide for the publication of OLC opinions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 

Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. RASKIN, 

Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. CLAY, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Ms. HILL of California, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. 

NORTON, Ms. TLAIB, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide for the publication of OLC opinions, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘See UNdisclosed Legal 

5 Interpretations and Get Honest Transparency Act of 

6 2019’’ or as the ‘‘SUNLIGHT Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SCHEDULE OF PUBLICATION FOR FINAL OLC OPIN2 IONS. 

3 Each final opinion issued by the Office of Legal 

4 Counsel must be made publicly available in its entirety as 

5 soon as is practicable, but— 

6 (1) not later than 30 days after the opinion is 

7 issued or updated if such action takes place on or 

8 after the date of enactment of this Act; 

9 (2) not later than 1 year after the date of en10 actment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after 

11 January 20, 1993; 

12 (3) not later than 2 years after the date of en13 actment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after 

14 January 20, 1981 and before or on January 19, 

15 1993; 

16 (4) not later than 3 years after the date of en17 actment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after 

18 January 20, 1969 and before or on January 19, 

19 1981; and 

20 (5) not later than 4 years after the date of en21 actment of this Act for all other opinions. 

22 SEC. 3. EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATION ON PUBLIC AVAIL23 ABILITY OF FINAL OLC OPINIONS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—A final OLC opinion or part 

25 thereof may be withheld only to the extent— 

26 (1) information contained in the opinion was— 


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1 (A) specifically authorized to be kept se2 cret, under criteria established by an Executive 

3 order, in the interest of national defense or for4 eign policy; 

5 (B) in fact properly classified, including all 

6 procedural and marking requirements, pursuant 

7 to such Executive order; 

8 (C) the Attorney General determines that 

9 the national defense or foreign policy interests 

10 protected outweigh the public’s interest in ac11 cess to the information; and 

12 (D) has been put through declassification 

13 review within the past two years; 

14 (2) information contained in the opinion relates 

15 to the appointment of a specific individual not con16 firmed to Federal office; 

17 (3) information contained in the opinion is spe18 cifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other 

19 than sections 552 and 552b of title 5, United States 

20 Code), provided that such statute— 

21 (A) requires that the material be withheld 

22 in such a manner as to leave no discretion on 

23 the issue; or 


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1 (B) establishes particular criteria for with2 holding or refers to particular types of material 

3 to be withheld; 

4 (4) information in the opinion includes trade se5 crets and commercial or financial information ob6 tained from a person and privileged or confidential 

7 whose disclosure would likely cause substantial harm 

8 to the competitive position of the person from whom 

9 the information was obtained; 

10 (5) the President, in his or her sole and non11 delegable determination, formally and personally 

12 claims in writing that executive privilege prevents 

13 the release of the information and disclosure would 

14 cause specific identifiable harm to an interest pro15 tected by an exception or the disclosure is prohibited 

16 by law; or 

17 (6) information in the opinion includes per18 sonnel and medical files and similar files the disclo19 sure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted 

20 invasion of personal privacy. 

21 (b) DETERMINATION TO WITHHOLD.—Any deter22 mination under this section to withhold information con23 tained in a final OLC opinion must be made by the Attor24 ney General or a designee of the Attorney General. The 

25 determination shall be— 


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1 (1) in writing; 

2 (2) made available to the public within the 

3 same timeframe as is required of a formal OLC 

4 opinion; 

5 (3) sufficiently detailed as to inform the public 

6 of what kind of information is being withheld and 

7 the reason therefore; and 

8 (4) effective only for a period of 3 years, sub9 ject to review and reissuance, with each reissuance 

10 made available to the public. 

11 (c) FINAL OPINIONS.—For final OLC opinions for 

12 which the text is withheld in full or in substantial part, 

13 a detailed unclassified summary of the opinion must be 

14 made available to the public, in the same timeframe as 

15 required of the final OLC opinion, that conveys the es16 sence of the opinion, including any interpretations of a 

17 statute, the Constitution, or other legal authority. A nota18 tion must be included in any published list of OLC opin19 ions regarding the extent of the withholdings. 

20 (d) NO LIMITATION ON RELIEF.—A decision by the 

21 Attorney General to release or withhold information pur22 suant to this Act shall not preclude any action or relief 

23 conferred by statutory or regulatory regime that empowers 

24 any person to request or demand the release of informa25 tion. 


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1 (e) REASONABLY SEGREGABLE PORTIONS OF OPIN2 IONS TO BE PUBLISHED.—Any reasonably segregable 

3 portion of an opinion shall be provided after withholding 

4 of the portions which are exempt under this subsection. 

5 The amount of information withheld, and the exemption 

6 under which the withholding is made, shall be indicated 

7 on the released portion of the opinion, unless including 

8 that indication would harm an interest protected by the 

9 exemption in this subsection under which the withholding 

10 is made. If technically feasible, the amount of the informa11 tion withheld, and the exemption under which the with12 holding is made, shall be indicated at the place in the opin13 ion where such withholding is made. 

14 SEC. 4. METHOD OF PUBLICATION. 

15 The Attorney General shall publish each final OLC 

16 opinion to the extent the law permits, including by pub17 lishing the opinions on a publicly accessible website that— 

18 (1) with respect to each opinion— 

19 (A) contains an electronic copy of the opin20 ion, including any transmittal letter associated 

21 with the opinion, in an open format that is plat22 form independent and that is available to the 

23 public without restrictions; 


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1 (B) provides the public the ability to re2 trieve an opinion, to the extent practicable, 

3 through searches based on— 

4 (i) the title of the opinion; 

5 (ii) the date of publication or revision; 

6 or 

7 (iii) the full text of the opinion; 

8 (C) identifies the time and date when the 

9 opinion was required to be published, and when 

10 the opinion was transmitted for publication; 

11 and 

12 (D) provides a permanent means of access13 ing the opinion electronically; 

14 (2) includes a means for bulk download of all 

15 OLC opinions or a selection of opinions retrieved 

16 using a text-based search; 

17 (3) provides free access to the opinions, and 

18 does not charge a fee, require registration, or impose 

19 any other limitation in exchange for access to the 

20 website; and 

21 (4) is capable of being upgraded as necessary to 

22 carry out the purposes of this Act. 

23 SEC. 5. INDEX OF OPINIONS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Office of Legal Counsel shall 

25 publish –— 


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1 (1) a complete list of final OLC opinions, ar2 ranged chronologically, within 90 days of the enact3 ment of this legislation; 

4 (2) the list of opinions shall be updated imme5 diately every time an OLC opinion becomes final; 

6 and 

7 (3) a revision to an opinion shall be listed as if 

8 it were a new opinion. 

9 (b) REQUIREMENTS AS TO LIST.—Each list under 

10 subsection (a) shall comply with the following: 

11 (1) PUBLICATION.—The list must be made 

12 available to the public by publication on the website 

13 in section 4. 

14 (2) INFORMATION AND FORMAT REQUIRED.— 

15 The list shall — 

16 (A) include, for each opinion— 

17 (i) the full name of the opinion; 

18 (ii) the date it was finalized or re19 vised; 

20 (iii) each author’s name; 

21 (iv) each recipient’s name; 

22 (v) a summary of the opinion; 

23 (vi) a unique identifier assigned to 

24 each final or revised opinion; and 


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1 (vii) whether an opinion has been 

2 withdrawn; and 

3 (B) be published in both human-readable 

4 and machine-readable formats. 

5 SEC. 6. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. 

6 On complaint, the district court of the United States 

7 in the district in which the complainant resides, or has 

8 his principal place of business, or in the District of Colum9 bia, has jurisdiction to enjoin the agency from withholding 

10 information contained in a final OLC opinion and to order 

11 the production of information improperly withheld from 

12 the complainant. In such a case the court shall determine 

13 the matter de novo, and may examine the contents of such 

14 OLC opinion in camera to determine whether such infor15 mation or any part thereof shall be withheld under any 

16 of the exemptions set forth in section 3, and the burden 

17 is on the agency to sustain its action. 

18 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 

19 If any provision of this Act, any amendment made 

20 by this Act, or the application thereof to any person or 

21 circumstances is held invalid, the validity of the remainder 

22 of the Act, of any such amendments, and of the applica23 tion of such provisions to other persons and circumstances 

24 shall not be affected thereby. 


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1 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

2 (a) OLC OPINION.—The term ‘‘OLC opinion’’ means 

3 views on a matter of legal interpretation communicated 

4 by the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Jus5 tice to any other office or agency, or person in an office 

6 or agency, in the Executive Branch, including any office 

7 in the Department of Justice, the White House, or the 

8 Executive Office of the President, and rendered in accord9 ance with sections 511–513 of title 28, United States 

10 Code. Where the communication of the legal interpretation 

11 takes place verbally, a memorialization of that communica12 tion qualifies as an ‘‘OLC opinion’’. 

13 (b) FINAL OLC OPINION.—The term ‘‘final OLC 

14 opinion’’ means an OLC opinion that— 

15 (1) the Attorney General, Assistant Attorney 

16 General for OLC, or a Deputy Assistant General for 

17 OLC, has determined is final; 

18 (2) government officials or government contrac19 tors are relying on; 

20 (3) is relied upon to formulate legal guidance; 

21 or 

22 (4) is directly or indirectly cited in another Of23 fice of Legal Counsel opinion. 


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1 (c) REVISED OLC OPINION.—The term ‘‘revised 

2 OLC opinion’’ means an OLC opinion that is withdrawn, 

3 information is added to, or information is removed from. 

Æ 


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