Professor Dawn Johnsen, tapped by President-elect Obama to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, has quite a few thoughts on the OLC's institutional role as an enforcer of the rule of law and an intra-executive branch check on executive branch excesses. See, for instance, her article "Faithfully Executing the Laws: Internal Legal Constraints on Executive Power" from the UCLA Law Review. Among other things, the article addresses how internal interpretive process and standards at OLC can foster or undermine adherence to the rule of law within the executive and includes, as an appendix, a set of principles to guide OLC's work. With Johnsen poised to take the helm at OLC, it's definitely worth a look. [Hat tip: Hilzoy]