from MinnPost:
The reluctance to prosecute is derived from an extrajudicial, nonbinding, self-serving, outmoded memorandum written by second-tier personnel in the Department of Justice that has taken on an unwarranted mantle of legal probity. In fact, it is more vulnerable than venerable.
The concept stems from an opinion issued by a low-echelon lawyer in the bowels of a government body called the Office of Legal Counsel, known in the Beltway circles as the OLC. A unit within the Department of Justice (DOJ), it gives advice to the president and other executive departments, including DOJ lawyers who can’t figure out the answers themselves — sort of like a bench coach advising a baseball manager or a high school guidance counselor aiding an uncertain student. In some cases, the president has to approve the OLC’s actions; fat chance that one would rebuke the view that the president is criminally immune while in office.
OLC staff opinions are just that: opinions of staff. They do not have any judicial imprimatur or the force of law. Views expressed by the OLC are the functional equivalent of a sign in a company’s employee kitchen reminding personnel to stack dirty dishes and utensils in the dishwasher; they are precatory but hardly compulsory outside of that room or binding upon others who might be idling there.
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