A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Wednesday to preserve all presidential records — including text messages exchanged among top White House officials — at least for now, rejecting the administration’s argument that the Presidential Records Act does not apply. The order is set to temporarily take effect on Tuesday while the legal case […]
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A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Wednesday to preserve all presidential records — including text messages exchanged among top White House officials — at least for now, rejecting the administration’s argument that the Presidential Records Act does not apply.
The order is set to temporarily take effect on Tuesday while the legal case moves forward. The White House has indicated it plans to keep fighting the case and believes it will ultimately win in court.
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Who the ruling applies to
The order applies to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the National Security Council and other staff inside the Executive Office of the President. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance are not covered by the directive.
“While the presidency is a singularly important institution, that gravity does not free it from modest constraint,” U.S. District Court Judge John Bates wrote in his opinion. “Congress has validly determined that this act helps to maintain that trust by shining some light on the activities of the president and his aides.”
The Presidential Records Act was signed into law in 1978 in the wake of the Watergate scandal and established public ownership of presidential records, according to CBS News.
The crux of the case
The decision comes after government oversight groups filed a lawsuit over a memorandum opinion issued by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel last month. In that opinion, the DOJ claimed the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional because it exceeds Congress’ power, therefore the Trump administration did not need to comply.
In their lawsuit, the American Historical Association, American Oversight and the Freedom of the Press Foundation asked the judge to order White House to preserve records. The judge granted that request, saying that the Presidential Records Act is “likely constitutional.”
“To adopt the government’s position that the Act is unconstitutional would disable Congress and future Presidents from reflecting on experience, in defiance of the very words engraved on the National Archives Building in Washington: ‘What is past is prologue,’” Bates wrote.
