The Walt Whitman Archive
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Title: Matthew F. Pleasants to J. R. McBride, 23 January 1867
Date: January 23, 1867
Whitman Archive ID: nar.00190
Source: National Archives and Records Administration. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang, Nima Najafi Kianfar, Kevin McMullen, and John Schwaninger
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January 23d, 1867
Hon. J. R. McBride
Ch. Justice, Sup. Court, Idaho Ter.
Sir:
I am directed by the Attorney Gen'l. to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th ult. & to say in reply that the Statute which established this office, makes it his duty to answer questions of law only when propounded by the President or the head of some Executive Department. To do otherwise would be, in the Attorney Gen's opinion, a violation of his duty, besides committing him beforehand upon points which might afterward arise in the regular course of administration. He begs therefore that you will excuse him for not giving an opinion on the question to which you refer.
Respectfully, M. F. Pleasants, Ch. Clerk