A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the White House is at “substantial risk” of erasing official documents, and ordered President Trump’s team to comply with the Presidential Records Act.
Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee to the court in Washington, rejected the White House’s argument that the law is unconstitutional, saying Congress has power to set rules for government property, and White House documents fall under that category.
He also said presidents have been able to comply with the law for 50 years, and he called the demand to preserve documents for posterity a “modest restraint” on the administration.
“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,’” the judge wrote, quoting Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”
The Trump administration sparked the lawsuit when the Justice Department issued an opinion declaring the Presidential Records Act trampled on the Executive Branch’s powers.
White House lawyers then issued new guidance about the administration’s obligations.
Staff said the guidance ordered that the old rules still be followed, even if they were no longer compelled by law.
But the groups that sued said the new policy would allow for deletion of some text messages in defiance of the law.
Judge Bates agreed with the challengers.
The government had argued that informal text exchanges did not need to be preserved. But Judge Bates said that was a matter for Congress to decide, not the White House.
He said that while messages sent on official White House devices may automatically be stored, those sent from private devices are not covered by that — and under the law can still be considered official records if they deal with government business or decision-making.
Judge Bates said the White House also seemed to free the president and vice president to dispose of their records in defiance of the law.
