opinion -- an olc position might be. olc plays an important role, a vital role in saying what the justice department's view is on the constitutionality of a statute and a whole variety of  things. the president in front formulating policy takes into account a wide range of things -- things that come from the justice department, opinions that come from other places. there are policy determinations that go into it. and -- i don't know -- i'm not -- i'm not as bothered as you are apparently by the notion that a president in taking into account the wide range of advice and opinions that he or she gets comes up with a determination that might be different from what the justice department has recommended. >> would that have to be based on a legal argument or would that -- could that be based purely on political considerations? >> usually the experience that i've had is that we're talking about legal arguments. the justice department takes a view -- i don't know maybe the state department, the defense department takes a differ

with olc, olc serves as an outside counsel to the executive branch agencies and serves as the gc at doj where ieas olp spearheads policy initiatives. we do other things. we beg judges for the white house and coordinate the rulemaking in the department. in terms of policy, in terms of legislation, policy initiatives, olp is known as the think tank of the justice department. in the reagan and registration, for example, they came up with the legislation which resulted in the current federal sentencing system. they dealt a lot with death penalty issues, hideous issues, and came forward with an original meaning of jurisprudence. in the clinton administration, they spearheaded anti-terrorism legislation in the aftermath of the oklahoma city bombing. spearheaded the violence against women act. and the brady bill. in the bush administration office, -- the office initiated the patriot act. if there is something that -- you talked about state -- state secrets, whistle-blower is another issue we are working on. we work with different components within doj and also different agencies around the gov

can you bring us up-to-date on what you are doing to review the alcee opinions -- olc opinions and what actions have been taken? >> we released the opinions some weeks ago. the review that led to that release continues. we made the determination that things can be released in a system of our national security concerns. we will make further releases. one of the things that has been helpful is it will be great to have one person confirmed as the head of the olc. that is a critical part of getting that review under way. the people there now are doing the best they can. we will continue to process the release of those other opinions. >> recently and had a meeting in the san diego area. it was a meeting of the top officials of all of the departments. i learned something quite surprising. i like to say what it is. i would ask you to take a good look. virtually all of the narcotics trafficking in this country, the people who control those trucks, the kits that are ordered are essentially controlled by certain things in federal prisons and some state prisons today. they gave me the names of the

. -- some of the olc opinions. >> the review that led to that release continues and as we finish the review and make the determination that opinions can be released in a way consistent with national security and for tax internal deliberations of the executive branch, we will make further releases. one thing that will be helpful in that regard and this is an advertisement, is to have don johnson confirmed as the head of the olc. that is a critical part getting at underway, having the person that will head that critical part of the department. but the people there now are doing the best they can and we will continue to process that led to the release of those other opinions. >> thank you very much. i recently had a meeting in the san diego area on the southwest border. it was a meeting of top officials of all the departments, fbi, dea, the d.a., etc.. i learned something surprising and that like to say what is and ask you to take a good look. that is that virtually all the narcotics traffic in this country, but routes that drugs travel and the people to control those drugs, the hits th

everything from tax to environmental natural resources division, olc, there are a variety of positions that are still waiting senate approval. >> very good. and i can tell you in our state it's worked very well. we had as you know a lot of uproar over a political appointment and then attorney general mukasey put someone new in. he is still staying on until the person i suggested has now been recommended by the president and we're hoping that we can get him in there soon. we have some major cases pending in our jurisdiction. the other interesting thing -- this is just my most interesting thing i learned this week, attorney general holder, as i recommended a marshall. do you know there's 94 marshalls. do you know how many of those are women in the country? >> no, i do not. >> there's only one in the state of florida. and i thought that was quite interesting. i thought i would share that with my colleagues as we recommend people as we go forward. i'm going to just ask a few questions about things that are a little closer to home that people have been focused on in my state and that is som

that when the investigation is done and released, he will hold hearings involving those there in the olc at the time and involved in the opinions. they will find out more and in some questions about this troubling episode in the history of our department of justice. the warrantless wiretaping is another abuse that occurred unfortunately in our not so recent past. the department of justice played an important role in facilitating some of what happened in that area before congress and others got into the act. we also conducted hearings in this area. the hearing led to an important statement signed by the democrats that made it clear the lack of justification for what happened under the prior administration. in the fis of legislation passed, there was a specific mandate for investigations by multiple agencies. that is due this july. a significant part of that is mandated by law to be done in public. we are looking forward to that report. we're looking forward to seeing what else needs to be done in that area with respect to these very important issues. further needs to be done in that area

. >> since we have gotten to this stage with the release of olc memos there's been a discussion about the kind of legal approval that might have been given, that was given, for these enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding. i think what he wants to do is to get the evidence out. he is saying that he knows there is evidence. there is evidence that spells out the impact and the effects. he wants to show what energy the executive did to put in terms -- did for the public. apparently the reason, the only reason, that the documents were not released is that they're involved in current cases. they're not going to be released right now. maybe they will be released later ron later on. -- later on. they would get the job of looking at these memos, those, and everything under the sun including all the evidence as to how those techniques worked that have yet to be revealed. i think that is what he is going for pretty ones to get all that and the debate and be able to count all the relevant to affirmation. >> i think he wants the administration and its decisions vindicated. i d

during a confirmation hearing, you emphasize your review of olc opinions would not be a political process. when the office of legal counsel, who has this responsibility, has prepared an opinion for you and said that congress' legislation was unconstitutional, i would expect you to listen to their opinions and follow them or explain precisely why you do not. instead, you have moved around them and sought a second opinion from this list -- from the solicitor general's office, an office that is really required to defend whatever his past and ask them for their legal thoughts. you began to think followed pressure from the left to override a common sense when you allow the department of justice to release ols opinions regarding interrogation, even though high-profile members of the intelligence community warned you that it was not wise to do so. former attorney general michael mukasey, a former federal judge who has tried terrorism cases, and michael hagan wrote hagan wroteop/ed in the wall street journal saying that the release of the memos would be not necessary as a legal matter, and i thin

we've had some success already in the sense that olc has released, as you know, many opinions that were held secret by the prior administration. there are more to come, and we continue to be in discussions with the justice department in the hope of trying to pry more of those loose as we go. but there is more to do in this area, as well as what's happened in the past. and the final area i want to mention are abuses with respect to voting rights enforcement. the civil rights division was one of those places where our work and the inspector general's work found tremendous amount of politicization, and that was seen in results that occurred in objections that weren't made to restrictive voting practices and other actions that were taken. we conducted a series of oversight hearings, one of which led to the resignation, you may recall, of john tanner, then the head of the voting section, whose conduct i won't get into detail but you all remember it. we continue to be very active in monitoring what's happening in the voting section of the civil rights division. there will, i understand, likel

>> what i would say about dick cheney is that since we have gotten to the stage with release of the olc memo's, and all of this, they're has been this discussion about the kind of legal approval that might have been given that was given for these enhanced interrogations' techniques including waterboarding. i think what he wants to do is say let's see what the evidence -- let's get the evidence. i know there's evidence, that is what he is singing. i think there are 21 pages worth of the two memos that spell out the impact, the affects. he wants to show what energy in the executive did in the country to put it in the terms of your earlier used. that is what he wants to do. now it was blocked yesterday. this is a request and apparently the only reason the documents were not released is that they are involved in a current foia case. maybe they will be released later on. i think defense by the way on the whole subject are getting to the point we are probably going to have some kind of commission that will get the job of looking at them and those and foes and everything under the sun includin