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The US Department of Justice on Thursday released a copy of the legal memo prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel about President Trump's executive order on immigration. The acting head of the office, Curtis Gannon, wrote that the order was approved for “form and legality.”
The Office of Legal Counsel traditionally reviews all executive orders for “form and legality.” It's a narrow review that doesn't address the legal strengths or weaknesses of a particular executive action, and doesn't touch on whether Justice Department lawyers believe an order could withstand a constitutional challenge in court.
Multiple legal challenges to the immigration order have been filed in federal courts nationwide since it took effect on Jan. 27. Several judges have entered orders temporarily blocking enforcement of parts of the order as the cases go forward.
In a statement, a DOJ spokesman said: “The Office of Legal Counsel’s form-and-legality paperwork includes a short description of some of the provisions of the proposed executive order and memorializes the conclusion that the proposed order is approved with respect to form and legality. As is generally the case under the Office’s longstanding practice, however, it does not identify or contain substantive analysis of issues that were evaluated in the course of the review.”
The memo is dated January 27, the same day that Trump signed the order.
Gannon was appointed by Trump to serve as the principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Office of Legal Counsel, and immediately became the acting head in the absence of a Senate-confirmed nominee. Gannon previously had worked in the US solicitor general's office since 2007, and clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
Washington, DC, lawyer Steven Engel is Trump's nominee to lead the division. Trump announced on Jan. 31 that he was nominating Engel to serve as an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, but didn't specify which division. The official nomination listing with Congress specified that Engel was nominated for the Office of Legal Counsel.
Engel is a partner at the law firm Dechert LLP, and previously served as the deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush.
After the memo was released on Thursday, former acting US solicitor general Neal Katyal weighed in on Twitter, expressing surprise at the brevity of the memo.
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