In an advisory opinion issued several weeks ago, the F.E.C. commissioners confirmed that Mr. Perot's 1992 performance would entitle him personally to about $29 million for the fall campaign, provided that he abided by fund-raising and spending limits.

Legal opinions issued by the OIG about the application of its fraud and abuse authorities.

"The court concludes that the constitutionality of the act will likely be upheld," Judge Jackson said in a written opinion issued two hours after an hour-long hearing.

That opinion and another document issued the same month have been described by former government officials as providing authorization for the use of harsh procedures like "waterboarding," a technique in which a prisoner is made to believe that he is drowning.

A Federal criminal investigation of a company that makes solid-fuel booster rockets for the space shuttle is "directly related" to the explosion of the shuttle Challenger in 1986, a Federal district judge confirmed in an opinion issued today.

Those two, joined by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, wrote the opinion issued this week reaffirming the constitutional right to abortion.

An advisory opinion from the state comptroller's office issued in June 2004, did not come down strongly on either side and was interpreted by each as a vindication of its own position.

It is not simply an opinion issued in June (the first few days of July before the Court adjourns also count) but an opinion on which time ran out, leaving the ragged edges glaringly apparent.

In the en banc opinion later issued in that case, the Federal Circuit jettisoned the useful-concrete-tangible test stated in State Street, but it did not explicitly overrule State Street in its entirety.

The department said in an opinion issued today that T.W.A. "continues to be fit, willing and able to perform its certificated operations," and it dismissed the petition without further action.