Trump sued over policy to 'keep or destroy' classified documents

In early April, lawyers from the Justice Department declared that laws preventing the president from keeping official documents were “unconstitutional.” But according to a new lawsuit filed against the White House, this policy poses the "substantial likelihood" that President Donald Trump "will keep or destroy numerous records after his term in office."

Filed by the American Historical Association and American Oversight, the suit intends to “stop the unconstitutional actions of the government, ensure the President and his administration abide by the recordkeeping obligations required by federal law, and to preserve the historical record that belongs to the American people, before it is forever lost.” It is a response to the DOJ assertion that “(T) he President need not further comply” with the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of White House documents for public use.

The DOJ put forth its argument following accusations that Trump may have kept classified documents to further his own business interests. It was revealed, for example, that in 2022, Trump showed a classified map he’d retained from his first term to passengers on his private jet. The map was so highly restricted that only six top officials were supposed to have access to it.

Enacted in 1978, the Presidential Records Act was implemented in response to Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal in an effort to ensure that the White House "adequately" document "activities, deliberations, decisions, and policies that reflect the performance of the President's constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties" for collection in the National Archives for use by the American people. Trump’s DOJ assertion claims that Congress "cannot preserve presidential records merely for the sake of posterity,” even though that is very directly the purpose of the PRA.

The lawsuit to oppose the DOJ’s stance was filed by two groups. The American Historical Association is the nation’s oldest and the world’s largest professional association of historians, and American Oversight is a nonpartisan government watchdog that works to advance democratic principles.

They argue that while “the Administration believes that the President is legally free to destroy records of his official government conduct, or even spirit away the records for his own future personal use,” it is the duty of Congress “to preserve and provide public access to official records of the President's activities.”

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