A Justice Department Opinion Arguing The Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional Could Revert The Nation To A Time When Presidents Freely Burned Their Papers
President Jimmy Carter, seen here at his Oval Office desk, signed legislation in 1978 that he said would ‘ensure that Presidential papers remain public property after the expiration of a President’s term.’ Corbis/Getty Images BY AUSTIN SARAT WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL PROFESSOR OF JURISPRUDENCE AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, AMHERST COLLEGE Prior to 1978, U.S. presidents could do what they pleased with the records from their time in office. They owned them. But in 1978 , the Presidential Records Act established new rules for the official records of a president. Passed in the wake of Watergate, when President Richard Nixon tried to keep incriminating materials from being made public, the law changed who legally owned the papers: It was now the American public. Under the act’s terms, “all records must be furnished to the White House Archivist and ultimately made subject to public disclosure … and the President may not discard or destroy records without the express agreement of the Archivist.” When ...
