On April 1, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) released an opinion that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional and that the records of US Presidents and their Executive Offices may be treated as personal property rather than public records belonging to the American people. Since then, organizations of archivists, lawyers, historians, and public interest groups have expressed their concerns and displeasure with this opinion in a variety of venues. This includes SAA's April 3 Statement on the OLC's Presidential Records Act Opinion.
Following our statement, our colleagues at the Association des Archivistes Français issued a statement in solidarity with SAA. They used the news from the United States to reiterate their commitment to the value of public records, including an explanation of the French laws that are similar to the PRA.
Back in the US, on April 6, our colleagues at the American Historical Association (AHA), in collaboration with the public interest group American Oversight (AO), filed a lawsuit challenging the OLC's opinion. AHA and AO subsequently reached out to the administration for assurances that records would not be destroyed while the lawsuit moved through the courts. The administration would not commit to preserving records in accordance with the PRA. As a result, on April 14, AHA and AO filed a motion for a preliminary injunction requesting a court to require the White House to preserve records as required by the PRA.
The story of the DOJ's incredibly reckless attempt to chip away at public records laws will continue to develop in the following weeks and months. And through that, we will be stalwart supporters-in public forums and behind-the-scenes with policymakers and allied organizations-of the PRA and other comprehensive public records laws.
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SAA Headquarters
Society of American Archivists
Chicago IL
saahq@archivists.org------------------------------