A nonpartisan office of Senate attorneys found that Senate officials cannot legally release documents requested by Vice President Joe Biden over an allegation of sexual harassment.

The Office of Senate Legal Counsel, which offers legal guidance to senators and their staff, and represents lawmakers in litigation, made the determination to the Secretary of the Senate Julie Adams after Biden asked for Senate officials to search for and release the 1993 complaint filed by former staffer Tara Reade.

"Based on the law's strict confidentiality requirements … and the Senate's own direction that disclosure of Senate Records is not authorized if prohibited by law … Senate Legal Counsel advises that the secretary has no discretion to disclose any such information as requested in Vice President Biden's letter of May 1," the secretary of the Senate's office said in a statement obtained by multiple media outlets.

As the House's Office of General Counsel's profile has skyrocketed over the past year over its litigation and legal fights with the Trump administration, its Senate counterpart has largely stayed out of the mainstream spotlight.

Current Senate Legal Counsel Patricia Bryan joined in 1999, as the first female attorney in the office. Bryan previously worked in the Justice Department under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and was also an associate counsel in the Reagan White House.

A 1999 piece about Bryan published by her alma mater Harvard Law also describes deputy counsel Morgan Frankel as a "veteran," and he remains with the office, according to his LinkedIn page.

The office was most recently involved in litigation on behalf of the Senate ahead of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial. Washington, D.C., attorney Martin McMahon brought forward the complaint, alleging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans could not be impartial jurors, but a federal judge threw out the case.

Both Bryan and Frankel appeared in the litigation, alongside assistant Senate legal counsels Grant Vinik and Thomas Caballero.

The office has proved to be a launching pad for at least one judge sitting on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit: Judge Thomas Griffith served as Senate Legal Counsel from 1995 until 1999, and was confirmed to the appellate court in 2005. He has referenced his Senate experience in presiding over clashes between the House and the Trump administration.

It's unclear from the statement exactly who at the Office of the Senate Legal Counsel made the determination against the release of the records. Biden, the presumptive Democratic candidate for the presidential election, on Friday asked the secretary of the Senate to release a complaint filed 27 years ago by Reade "with the office responsible for enforcing Senate employees' rights in the workplace." He also asked for the release of "any and all other documents in the records that relate to the allegation."

Reade has accused Biden of sexually assaulting her while she was on his staff, an allegation Biden has denied. Reade says she does not have a copy of the complaint, and Biden says he does not recall one being filed.

Biden in 2019 hired Covington & Burling to serve as his campaign counsel, with former Federal Election Commission chairman Robert Lenhard taking the lead.

The New York Times previously reported that Reade has struggled to obtain legal representation, but has discussed the facts of her case with multiple attorneys.

Some Obama-era attorneys have come out in defense of Biden over Reade's allegation. Bill Jeffress, currently a senior counsel with Bakers Botts who lead a team of attorneys that vetted Biden for the vice presidential nomination in 2008, has told multiple media outlets that no allegations of misconduct, including Reade's, came up during a two-month review of Biden.