The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that supports the attorney general in their role as legal adviser to the president and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the attorney general and provides its own written opinions and other advice in response to requests from the counsel to the president,the various agencies of the executive branch,and other components of the Department of Justice. The office reviews and comments on the constitutionality of pending legislation. The office reviews any executive orders and substantive proclamations for legality if the president proposes them. All proposed orders of the attorney general and regulations that require the attorney general's approval are reviewed. It also performs a variety of special assignments referred by the attorney general or the deputy attorney general.
Peter Douglas Keisler is an American lawyer whose 2006 nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit became embroiled in partisan controversy. He is a partner at the firm of Sidley Austin in Washington,D.C.,and used to be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Upon the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,until November 9,2007,he was also the Acting Attorney General of the United States.
Hampton Yeats Dellinger is an American attorney and political candidate who is serving as Special Counsel of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. He previously served as the United States Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy and was a partner at Boies,Schiller &Flexner and Robinson,Bradshaw,and Hinson.
Steven Gill Bradbury is an American lawyer and government official who served as the General Counsel of the United States Department of Transportation. He previously served as Acting Assistant Attorney General (AAG) from 2005 to 2007 and Principal Deputy AAG from 2004 to 2009,heading the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the U.S. Department of Justice during President George W. Bush's second term.
Virginia Anne Seitz is an American attorney who specializes in constitutional law,labor law,employment law and administrative law. She served as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Department of Justice from 2011 until stepping down in December 2013. Seitz was confirmed to the post by the Senate in a voice vote on June 28,2011.
Dawn Elizabeth Johnsen is an American lawyer and the Walter W. Foskett Professor of Constitutional law,on the faculty at Maurer School of Law at Indiana University in Bloomington,Indiana. She previously served in the Biden administration as Acting Attorney General at the Office of Legal Counsel,having been appointed on January 20,2021,by President Joe Biden,to return to the role she previously held in the Clinton administration. She was succeeded in that role in a permanent capacity by Christopher H. Schroeder,and is currently serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the same office.
Gustavo Antonio GelpíJr. is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He is a former chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Matthew Glen Olsen is an American attorney who has served as the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division since 2021. He is the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
Christopher Henry Schroeder is an American lawyer who served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Biden Administration from 2021 to 2023. He served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy in the United States Department of Justice during the presidency of Barack Obama,serving from April 2010 until December 2012. Before and after his time as Assistant Attorney General,he was the Charles S. Murphy Professor of Law and Professor of Public Policy Studies at Duke University School of Law. He is now Professor Emeritus of the same institution.
Steven Andrew Engel is an American lawyer. He served as the United States assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Trump administration. Engel,who previously worked in the George W. Bush administration as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel,was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31,2017,and confirmed on November 7,2017.
Ryan Douglas Nelson is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was previously nominated to become Solicitor of the United States Department of the Interior,but was never confirmed.
John Charles Demers is an Italian-born American lawyer who served as United States Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division (NSD) from 2018 to 2021. Following the resignation of Jeffrey A. Rosen,Demers also served as acting United States Attorney General for a few hours on January 20,2021 until President Joe Biden signed an executive order naming Monty Wilkinson as acting United States Attorney General later that day.
Brantley David Starr is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Helaine Ann Greenfeld is an American attorney who was the nominee to serve as Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs in the Biden administration.
Brian Eddie Nelson is an American attorney who served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the Biden administration.
Nicholas William Brown is an American lawyer who served as United States attorney for the Western District of Washington from October 2021 to June 21,2023.
Christopher Robert Kavanaugh is an American attorney who is the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia.
Holly Aiyisha Thomas is an American attorney serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 2018 to 2022.
Mark Allen Totten is an American lawyer who has served as the United States attorney for the Western District of Michigan since 2022.
