S.Amdt. 4207

SA 4207. Ms. DUCKWORTH submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by her to the bill H.R. 6938, making consolidated appropriations for
the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes;
which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. _____. PUBLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF OPINIONS.

Section 521 of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``The
Attorney General''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(b) OLC Opinions.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection, the following terms
shall apply:
``(A) Final olc opinion.--The term `final OLC opinion'
means an OLC opinion that--
``(i) the Attorney General, Assistant Attorney General for
the Office of Legal Counsel, or a Deputy Assistant General
for the Office of Legal Counsel, has determined is final;
``(ii) is relied upon by government officials or government
contractors;
``(iii) is relied upon to formulate legal guidance; or
``(iv) is directly or indirectly cited in another OLC
opinion.
``(B) Non-legal olc guidance.--The term `non-legal OLC
guidance' means a communication from the Office of Legal
Counsel of the Department of Justice that--
``(i) is non-legal; and
``(ii)(I) is relied upon by government officials or
government contractors;
``(II) is relied upon to formulate legal guidance; or
``(III) is directly or indirectly cited in another OLC
opinion.
``(C) OLC opinion.--The term `OLC opinion'--
``(i) means views communicated by the Office of Legal
Counsel of the Department of Justice to any other office or
agency, or person in an office or agency, in the Executive
Branch, including any office in the Department of Justice,
the White House, or the Executive Office of the President,
and rendered in accordance with sections 511 through 513; and
``(ii) includes--

``(I) in the case of a verbal communication of a legal
interpretation, a memorialization of that communication;
``(II) a final OLC opinion;
``(III) a revised OLC opinion; and
``(IV) non-legal OLC guidance.

``(D) Revised olc opinion.--The term `revised OLC opinion'
means an OLC opinion--
``(i) that is withdrawn;
``(ii) to which information is added; or
``(iii) from which information is removed.
``(2) Requirement.--Subject to paragraph (3) and in
accordance with paragraph (4), the Attorney General shall
publish all OLC opinions on the public website of the
Department to be accessed by the public free of charge.
``(3) Redaction of classified information.--
``(A) In general.--In the case of an OLC opinion required
to be published under paragraph (2) that contains classified
information, the Attorney General shall--
``(i) redact the classified information from the OLC
opinion before publication of the OLC opinion; and
``(ii) establish and preserve an accurate record
documenting each redaction from the OLC opinion, including
information describing in detail why public online disclosure
of the classified information would have resulted in the
associated harm that pertains to each level of
classification.
``(B) Limitation.--The Attorney General may not redact
information under this paragraph that is sensitive and
unclassified unless it is highly likely that disclosure of
the information would, either directly or indirectly, result
in--
``(i) loss of life,
``(ii) serious bodily harm, or
``(iii) significant economic or property damage.
``(C) Submission to congress.--In the case of an OLC
opinion described in subparagraph (A), the Attorney General
shall submit the full opinion to--
``(i) any Member of Congress, without redaction;
``(ii) any appropriately cleared congressional staff
member, without redaction or with redaction up to top secret
depending on the individual's clearance level; and
``(iii) the Committee on the Judiciary and the Select
Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Committee on
the Judiciary and the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence of the House of Representatives, which shall
create a process through which appropriately cleared
congressional staff from other committees may access the
opinion, without redaction or with redaction up to top secret
depending on the individual's clearance level.
``(D) Periodic review.--To the maximum extent practicable,
the Attorney General shall, on a continual basis and not less
frequently than once every 90 days--
``(i) review every OLC opinion published under this
subsection that contains redactions of classified
information; and
``(ii) remove any redactions that no longer protect
information that is classified as either sensitive, secret,
or top secret.
``(4) Deadline for publication.--
``(A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B),
each OLC opinion issued by the Office of Legal Counsel of the
Department after the date of enactment of the DOJ OLC
Transparency Act shall be published in accordance with this
section as soon as practicable, but not later than 48 hours.
``(B) Exception.--If the Attorney General determines that
publishing an OLC opinion described in subparagraph (A) risks
alerting the target of an ongoing sensitive law enforcement
operation, the OLC opinion shall

[[Page S174]]

be published not later than 48 hours following the completion
of the initial operation.
``(C) Previously issued opinions.--In the case of OLC
opinions issued before the date of enactment of the DOJ OLC
Transparency Act, the Attorney General shall, subject to
subparagraph (D)--
``(i) not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of
the DOJ OLC Transparency Act, publish all of the OLC opinions
issued during fiscal years 2020 through 2023;
``(ii) not later than 60 days after the date of enactment
of the DOJ OLC Transparency Act, publish all of the OLC
opinions issued during fiscal years 2000 through 2019;
``(iii) not later than 90 days after the date of enactment
of the DOJ OLC Transparency Act, publish all of the OLC
opinions issued during fiscal years 1980 through 1999;
``(iv) not later than 120 days after the date of enactment
of the DOJ OLC Transparency Act, publish all of the OLC
opinions issued during fiscal years 1960 through 1979; and
``(v) not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of
the DOJ OLC Transparency Act, publish all of the OLC opinions
issued before fiscal year 1960.
``(D) Description of certain opinions.--In the case of an
OLC opinion issued by the Office of Legal Counsel of the
Department before the date of enactment of the DOJ OLC
Transparency Act for which the text of the OLC opinion cannot
be located, the Attorney General shall--
``(i) publish a description of the OLC opinion; and
``(ii) submit a written certification to Congress, under
penalty of perjury, that--

``(I) a good faith effort was made to find the text of the
OLC opinion; and
``(II) the text of the OLC opinion is unavailable.

``(5) Right of action.--
``(A) In general.--On complaint brought by a complainant
who has been harmed as a result of being deprived access to
an OLC opinion that is required to be made available to the
public free of charge on the public website of the Department
under this subsection, the district court of the United
States in the district in which the complainant resides, or
has his principal place of business, or in the District of
Columbia, has jurisdiction to enjoin the Office of Legal
Counsel from withholding information required to be made
available under this subsection and to order the production
of information improperly withheld from the complainant.
``(B) Review.--In a case brought under subparagraph (A)--
``(i) the court shall--

``(I) determine the matter de novo; and
``(II) examine the contents of the opinion issued by the
Office of Legal Counsel in camera to determine whether such
information or any part thereof shall be withheld under
paragraph (3); and

``(ii) the burden is on the Office of Legal Counsel to
sustain its action.''.
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