Nonprofits Sue Trump to Enforce Presidential Records Act

Two nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against President Donald Trump and his administration, seeking to enforce a federal law that requires the preservation of White House records for public access. The American Historical Association, the world's largest professional organization of historians, and American Oversight, a government transparency group, challenged a recent Justice Department memo that declared the 1978 Presidential Records Act unconstitutional.

The suit, assigned to U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, argues that the administration's position violates the separation of powers by allowing the executive branch to override Congress and the Supreme Court. Plaintiffs requested a court declaration affirming the law's validity, an injunction blocking federal agencies from relying on the memo, and an order requiring Trump to comply with record preservation requirements after leaving office. The complaint emphasizes that presidential records, including emails and documents created by the president, vice president, and nearly 1,000 White House staff using government resources, belong to the public, not any...