Tidal Wave at OLC

Before Bush administration officials head for the exits, they're cleaning out the cupboard at the Office of Legal Counsel, which provides legal advice to the president and all other agencies. Since fall, the office has been releasing opinions with increasing frequency. Most recently, we wrote about an OLC opinion holding that the president could assert executive privilege to withhold records of Vice president Dick Cheney’s interview with FBI agents investigating the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s name.

On Thursday, the office cut loose seven opinions at once, the most since the start of the Bush administration. They delve into everything from the legal justifications for using military force against Iraq to whether the Geneva Convention applies to the Taliban. We’ve listed them below by date. Enjoy.

• Legality of the Use of Military Commission to Try Terrorists (11/06/2001)

• Status of Taliban Forces Under Article 4 under the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 (02/07/02)

• Authority of the President Under Domestic and International Law to Use Military Force Against Iraq (10/23/2002)

• Effect of a Recent United Nations Security Council Resolution on the Authority of the President under International Law to Use Military Force Against Iraq (11/08/2002)

• Whether False Statements or Omissions in Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Declaration Would Constitute a “Further Material Breach” Under U.S. Security Council Resolution 1441 (12/07/2002)

• “Protected Person” Status in Occupied Iraq Under the Fourth Geneva Convention (03/18/2004)

• Assertion of Executive Privilege Over Communications Regarding EPA’s Ozone Air Quality Standards and California’s Greenhouse Gas Waiver Request (06/19/2008)