CREW is suing the Department of Justice for records pertaining to all opinions, memoranda, or analyses issued by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) relating to Section 1 of the 22nd Amendment. CREW originally sought these records in a FOIA request on March 18, 2025, which intended to shed light on whether the Department of Justice has provided legal opinions about whether any president can extend his term beyond the understood constitutional limits. 

Despite having already been elected president two times, constitutionally prohibiting him from being elected for a third time in accordance with the 22nd Amendment, President Trump has repeatedly suggested that he would attempt to extend his time in office beyond his current term. At the start of his second week back in office, President Trump floated the idea that presidential term limits might be negotiable during the House Republicans’ annual retreat in Florida, and has repeatedly brought up the idea since.

Given the current president’s suggestions that he may be interested in testing the term limit set by the 22nd Amendment, it is in the best interest of the public to access any documents and memorandum that provide further clarity to where the bounds lie. As the Office of Legal Counsel provides legal advice to the president and all agencies within the executive branch, the OLC’s views on this subject carry great weight. CREW’s lawsuit seeks the immediate processing and disclosure of all relevant records, which would give the public necessary clarity on what exactly those views are.

Lawsuit documents

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