Department of Justice and OLC

The American Historical Association and watchdog group American Oversight have filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., seeking a court ruling that the Presidential Records Act is constitutional and binding on President Donald Trump despite a new Trump Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion suggesting otherwise. In their complaint, filed April 7, 2026, the groups quote the administration’s position that the president is “legally free to destroy” official records or keep them for personal use, and argue there is now a substantial likelihood Trump will again retain or destroy presidential records when his current term ends. They cite the facts of Trump’s since‑dismissed classified‑documents criminal case, including his past claim that the records law allowed him to treat official documents as personal, as evidence of that risk. The suit asks the court not only to declare the Act constitutional but to order the National Archives and Records Administration to follow it and to bar Trump, after leaving office, from retaining, destroying, or mishandling presidential records in violation of the statute. The case lands amid broader fights over access to former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report and a pattern of transparency rollbacks, fueling online concern that this OLC move is an attempt to gut presidential record‑keeping obligations by memo rather than legislation.