Historians, watchdog group sue Trump to preserve White House records

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - A U.S. historians' organization and a government transparency group are suing President Donald Trump to force his administration to comply with a presidential records preservation law after the U.S. Justice Department declared the measure unconstitutional.

The American Historical Association and American Oversight on Monday asked the federal court in Washington to declare the nearly 50-year-old Presidential Records Act to be lawful and to bar federal agencies from relying on the Justice Department’s legal memo that deemed it illegal.

The lawsuit also asked the court for an injunction that would require Trump to comply with the law after he leaves office.

“This case is about the preservation of records that document our nation’s history, and whether the American people are able to access and learn from that history,” the lawsuit said.

The White House in a statement said: “President Trump is committed to preserving records from his historic Administration and he will maintain a rigorous records retention program."

Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement that the Justice Department is "pushing a sweeping view of presidential power that would hand control of those records to the White House — a position the Supreme Court has already rejected."

The Presidential Records Act of 1978 sets out rules for the management and custody of presidential records, including when a president may dispose of certain records. Presidential records are provided to the National Archives and Records Administration after each presidential administration ends.

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel in an April 1 memo said the law intrudes on the "independence and autonomy” of the executive, and the president can disregard it as unconstitutional.

The memo, signed by T. Elliot Gaiser, the Trump-appointed head of the legal counsel office, said the records law “exceeds any preservation power because Congress cannot preserve presidential records merely for the sake of posterity.”

The American Historical Association and American Oversight argue that the memo contradicts a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld a prior presidential records preservation law, and that the executive branch doesn’t have authority to nullify the opinion.

The lawsuit said no presidential administration of either political party, including the first Trump administration, had questioned the record law’s constitutionality since it was enacted.

The case is American Historical Association et al v. Donald Trump et al, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:26-cv-01169.

For plaintiffs: Daniel Jacobson of Jacobson Lawyers Group, and Loree Stark of American Oversight

For defendants: No appearances yet