“As of this moment, 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.”

That’s what two nonprofit groups told a federal court in Washington on Monday, in a legal complaint seeking a declaration that the Presidential Records Act is constitutional. The complaint was prompted by a bold new claim to the contrary by the Trump Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. 

The American Historical Association and American Oversight said in their complaint that they filed the lawsuit “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.”

American Oversight is one of the groups that is separately suing for the release of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his classified documents case against President Donald Trump. The DOJ dropped Trump’s federal criminal cases due to his 2024 election win, but a Trump-appointed judge has still sought to keep Smith’s report secret. 

Monday’s complaint cites the facts surrounding Trump’s since-dismissed documents case to argue that there’s reason to believe he’ll keep presidential records for himself again after he leaves office. After he took records the first time, the complaint recounted, he claimed the records act authorized him to keep them. 

“President Trump maintained his claim that the documents were personal despite the fact that hundreds of documents were found to be marked classified and others clearly related to his official duties, such as the exercise of his clemency power, immigration policies, and intelligence matters,” the complaint said. 

Due to that history, it said, combined with the DOJ’s new proposed permission to disregard the act, there’s a “substantial likelihood” that the president “will keep or destroy numerous records” after his current term is up too.  

On top of seeking a court declaration that the act is constitutional, the groups also want a ruling that the National Archives and Records Administration must comply with the act and must make relevant records publicly available as the act requires. Also among the groups’ requests is that Trump be barred, after his current term is up, “from retaining, destroying, disposing, or otherwise handling Presidential records in a manner not in accordance with” the act, and to turn over all presidential records in his possession to NARA as required by the act.

The government will have an opportunity to respond in court.

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