A young indictment of former President Donald Trump on July 27 , 2023 , addedanother chargerelated to retention of classified documents to an existing bill of indictment issued last calendar month . The charges followed a long procedure of the National Archives and Records Administration postulate the former president on multiple affair to come back the records he require with him after he left office . The Conversation U.S. askedShannon Bow O’Brien , a scholar of the presidency at the University of Texas , Austin College of Liberal Arts , to discuss the history , law and customs associated with presidential archives .
How Do the Archivists Actually Know What’s Missing? Isn’t That Hard to Figure Out?
The archivist belike have a really keen idea of what is and what is n’t miss , based upon thing that they ’ve gotten out of other post , like the frailty president ’s post and thing that got wedge from the secretary of state , for object lesson . There are a lot of newspaper that are referenced and cross - cite , multiple copies or multiple things fit in and out of offices .
One scholar did a subject area of the president ’ yearly Christmas speechat the Ellipse in Washington . He wait at how the lecture — from the Roosevelt disposal to the present — developed , and it was kind of aring - around - the - rosieinside the West Wing and within the departments — what lead in , what went out , what pass in , what went out . Who win and who did n’t win . Everybody left their marks on the speeches . All of those change and request appear in documents , and if part of the conversation is missing from the National Archives , it ’s obvious .
We know from other President ’ records that really comprehensive record are maintain via casual manifests of what the presidents are doing . And while I am not a historian , it ’s not excessive to seize that the other departments and agency too have everyday manifests of their top officials . So if they get laid that someone at an means sent something over to the White House that was this or that , and it issue forth back from the White House with this or that , then there should be a document somewhere that ’s experience something from the White House on it — and if you ’re missing that , that ’s a problem .
Will the Public Find Out What Was in These Documents, Given That They Are Classified?
The bill of indictment against Trump spells out the grade of classification the documents had — they get different degree free-base on the layer of seriousness — but only vaguely refers to the depicted object . We ’ll be prosperous to ever know if , and when , the text file getdeclassified , although some more description of the contents could come out during the trial .
What Law Governs What Happens to a President’s Documents?
It ’s thePresidential Records Act . It came about to begin with because these guy , the presidents , were just kind of doing whatever the heck they wanted with their records . Hoover donate his ; FDR does n’t .
The act , first passed in 1978 , state presidential term have to retain“any infotainment cloth relating to the political activeness of the President or members of the President ’s staff , but only if such activities relate to or have a unmediated effect upon the carrying out of constitutional , statutory , or other official or ceremonial duties of the President . ”
Have There Been Other Controversies Over Presidential Records?
There ’s a two - tenner backdrop to the case . After he left the presidency , Nixonbrokered a good deal with the General Services Administrationabout the retention of his track record , butwhen knowledge of it became public , there was considerable vociferation . A large amount of material was to be recoup from public panorama , and there was business organization the depth of Nixon ’s true involvement in Watergate would be obnubilate .
Congress responded and in 1974 , President Gerald Ford signed thePresidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Actto specifically practice to Nixon ’s presidential material . It yield the archivists the force to seize materials from Nixon ’s time in the White House and return those deemed private .
Nixon immediately suedover who have his disk . While he had already been pardoned when it was enacted , Nixon was interested about his repute and legacy . He want control over what the public saw about his fourth dimension in power . One of the major issues in front of the court involve the disposition of document he believed were private . give the scandal associated with his resignation , should these document be inspected by archivist for veracity ?
Did the Government Have the Right to Seize Presidential Documents?
In a 7 - 2 decision , the Supreme Court rejected all of Nixon ’s argument . They tell his privacy rights were still intact because the archivist were not make thing immediately public but inspecting them and hold back public items while render family ace . The motor hotel noted the “ unblemished record of the archivists for free will . ”
In 2000 , thelawsuit was settledover the Nixon records , with the bulk of the colonisation money going to pay lawyer fees . Some perceiver were distressed , because these papers should have already been considered public , but the decision was likely made to finally close up this chapter on American history . In 2007 , theNixon library in California became public and integrated into National Archives .
Shannon Bow O’Brienis tie in prof of instruction at The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts .
This article , which includes parts ofan article to begin with publishedon Feb. 11 , 2022 , was last updated on July 28 , 2023 , andis republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons licence . you could find oneself theoriginal articlehere .
