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Opinions
Designating an Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency
In designating an Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the President may choose either an incumbent Deputy Director under 12 U.S.C. § 4512(f), the vacancy statute that applies specifically to the office of the Director, or someone who is made eligible to be an acting officer by the Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. Under the latter, the President may select the Senate-confirmed Comptroller of the Currency.
Paying for Removing Structures at the Treasure Lake Civilian Conservation Center
The interdepartmental-waiver doctrine, under which one agency generally may not pay to restore or repair property in the custody of another agency, prevents the Department of Labor from paying to remove structures at a defunct Job Corps site that is located within a wildlife refuge in the custody of the Department of Interior. No statutory authority has displaced that doctrine’s applicability by authorizing the Department of Labor to pay for removing the structures.
Requests by Individual Members of Congress for Executive Branch Information
In reviewing requests from Congress, the Executive Branch’s longstanding policy has been to engage in the established process for working to accommodate congressional requests for information only when those requests come from a committee, subcommittee, or chairman acting pursuant to oversight authority delegated from a House of Congress. Departments and agencies, however, may appropriately give due weight and sympathetic consideration to requests for information from individual members of Congress not delegated such authority.
Only a committee chairman may request presidential records under section 2205(2)(C) of the Presidential Records Act, unless the committee has specifically delegated that authority to another member.
Mandatory Disclosure of Civil Rights Cold Case Records
The mandatory disclosure regime in S. 3191, the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018, could curtail the President’s ability to protect information subject to executive privilege.
S. 3191 unconstitutionality restricts the qualifications for appointees to the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board and unconstitutionally dictates the timing of their appointments.
S. 3191 unconstitutionally restricts the President’s supervision of the Executive Branch by prohibiting the President from removing Review Board members absent cause.
Designating an Acting Attorney General
The President’s designation of a senior Department of Justice official to serve as Acting Attorney General was expressly authorized by the Vacancies Reform Act. That act is available to the President even though the Department’s organic statute prescribes an alternative succession mechanism for the office of Attorney General.
The President’s designation of an official who does not hold a Senate-confirmed office to serve, on a temporary basis, as Acting Attorney General was consistent with the Appointments Clause. The designation did not transform the official’s position into a principal office requiring Senate confirmation.
Reconsidering Whether the Wire Act Applies to Non-Sports Gambling
This Office concluded in 2011 that the prohibitions of the Wire Act in 18 U.S.C. § 1084(a) are limited to sports gambling. Having been asked to reconsider, we now conclude that the statutory prohibitions are not uniformly limited to gambling on sporting events or contests. Only the second prohibition of the first clause of section 1084(a), which criminalizes transmitting “information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest,” is so limited. The other prohibitions apply to non-sports-related betting or wagering that satisfy the other elements of section 1084(a).
The 2006 enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act did not alter the scope of section 1084(a).
Authority to Withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement
The President may lawfully withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement without the need for any further legislative action.
Statutory Restrictions on the PLO’s Washington Office
The Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987 may not constitutionally bar the Palestine Liberation Organization from maintaining its Washington, D.C. office and undertaking diplomatic activities the Secretary of State wishes to authorize.
The Scope of State Criminal Jurisdiction over Offenses Occurring on the Yakama Indian Reservation
In partially retroceding the criminal jurisdiction that it had obtained under Public Law 280, the State of Washington retained criminal jurisdiction over an offense on the Yakama Indian Reservation when the defendant or the victim is a non-Indian, as well as when both are non-Indians.
Licensing Marijuana Cultivation in Compliance with the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
Under the Controlled Substances Act, the Drug Enforcement Administration may register an applicant to cultivate marijuana only if the registration scheme is consistent with the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. To comply with the Single Convention, DEA’s licensing framework must provide for a system in which DEA or its legal agent has physical possession and ownership over the cultivated marijuana and assumes control of the distribution of marijuana no later than four months after harvesting.