A federal court issued a presidential records act ruling that ordered White House personnel to continue complying with the Presidential Records Act and to preserve official records generated during government business.
U.S. District Judge John Bates granted a preliminary injunction that effectively blocks a recent legal opinion from the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, which had described the law as unconstitutional and said the President could destroy records from his term.
Bates wrote that the Records Act is likely constitutional and was validly enacted under the Property Clause, allowing Congress to designate presidential records as federal property and to regulate them prospectively.
The judge also rejected the OLC opinion as relying on a stark misreading of Supreme Court precedent, and he dismissed the argument that presidential papers were personal property prior to the 1978 law.
Bates directed administration officials to take steps to ensure records are retained in accordance with federal law, while noting that courts generally may not enjoin the President in the performance of his official duties.
Scope Effects And Reactions
The court order stops short of directly ordering President Donald Trump or Vice President JD Vance to comply, and it expressly excludes the National Archives and Records Administration, the archivist, the Department of Justice, and the attorney general from its directives.
The case was brought by watchdog groups American Oversight and the American Historical Association, which sued after the OLC memo and alleged the administration believes the President can destroy records or spirit them away for personal use.
American Oversight praised the ruling as an important victory for presidential accountability, with executive director Chioma Chukwu saying the court affirmed longstanding law and practice and recognized the danger of replacing that law with presidential discretion.
Sarah Weicksel, executive director of the American Historical Association, said the ruling reaffirms that presidential records belong to the public and serve to document the nation’s history, not to any one individual.
It was not immediately clear whether the administration would appeal the decision, and the judge stopped short of finding officials had intentionally violated the law while saying safeguards are required to prevent destruction or disappearance of records.
