Interesting opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel

1,653 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 3 days ago by TXAggie2011
Less Evil Hank Scorpio
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7:00a, 4/3/26
AG
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/justice-department-presidential-records-act-unconstitutional/

They're arguing Trump doesn't need to comply with the Presidential Records act. I wonder if this is just cover for after his term to try to prevent the "classified documents at Mar-a-Lago" thing again or if they have stuff they want to hide.

I'm not a constitutional scholar by any means but it makes sense to me that the records that pertain to the country are the property of the government, not the president.

Certainly a bit ironic given all the hand wringing about private email servers and Biden having classified documents at home too.
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Gilligan
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7:17a, 4/3/26
AG
Legal or not. I don't care who you are leave confidential information at work after you leave office. Whilst in office do your job and do what you need to do and be mindful of sensitive information. Leave all of it when you get out. It's that simple. Don't leave it in your garage or estate.
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flown-the-coop
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7:19a, 4/3/26
AG
I am going to operate on the assumption that you didn't read the article and your admitted limits on constitution and separation of powers.

In the wake of Watergate, both SCOTUS and Congress overstepped in their "investigation" of the Executive. Our Country has been worse for it.

The PRA attempts to achieve a benefit for the American people by requiring records to be preserved. It's not perfect, probably has several unconstitutional elements to it which are laid out over the 52 pages.

It probably would have never been challenged. Then Biden and Garland used it as a means to raid the personal residence of a former POTUS. The result is the whole system has to be challenged because again the Dems abused it.

The end result of all the actions of the Dems over the past decade to reign in or counteract Trump have only resulted in a stronger Trump and stronger favor.

Good job Dems.
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nortex97
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In reply to Less Evil Hank Scorpio • 7:20a, 4/3/26
AG
It has nothing to do with keeping anything secret. MAL raid was about creating liability and political problems for DJT so he wouldn't run and win again. Nat. Archives had a copy of everything they found/were looking for already. Presidential Records Act is a silly encroachment by the legislative branch on the executive, and it's very sloppy legislation as well as written.

Ironically it was the Clinton sock drawer case that Scotus has actually said the former presidents can take anything they want. Slick Willy (and his wretched other half), and peepaw were notoriously terrible about securing materials, to say nothing of Obama's shenanigans. We really shouldn't even have these arguments though, as it's not worth the process, to me.
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flown-the-coop
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In reply to Gilligan • 7:20a, 4/3/26
AG
Gilligan said:
Legal or not. I don't care who you are leave confidential information at work after you leave office. Whilst in office do your job and do what you need to do and be mindful of sensitive information. Leave all of it when you get out. It's that simple. Don't leave it in your garage or estate.

Trump had every legal right to possess what he had in his temporary custody at MAL. Biden broke the law.
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MouthBQ98
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In reply to Less Evil Hank Scorpio • 7:30a, 4/3/26
AG
It's a constitutional powers issue for sure, and a tough one. The federal government that generates almost all of the material works for the president and his cabinet, but there are laws passed by congress that funded it and regulate how much of it is done, and both separate powers have to be considered. There is not a lot of guidance from the constitution itself on how to draw the line so this will likely get tested several times in details by Supreme Court decisions over disputes and until that happens in each circumstance, it is presumptive to really be sure which power prevails over what materials.
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Fightin_Aggie
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In reply to Gilligan • 7:54a, 4/3/26
AG
Gilligan said:
Legal or not. I don't care who you are leave confidential information at work after you leave office. Whilst in office do your job and do what you need to do and be mindful of sensitive information. Leave all of it when you get out. It's that simple. Don't leave it in your garage or estate.


The past issue is the alphabet agencies have been labeling malfeasance and treason committed by the alphabet agencies against conservatives or politicians they disagree with or aren't laundering money with as classified to hide their illegal activities.
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zephyr88
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8:03a, 4/3/26
AG
Here we go... mainstream media engaging the attack again. They're already looking forward to the midterms, anticipating a democrat win. They're teeing up the lawsuits to put the brakes on the Trump Administration's continued successes. They're (democrats) could care less about the country, it's only the anti-Trump barrage 2.0 and it's coming soon - if the Republicans can hold on to their seats.
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Less Evil Hank Scorpio
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In reply to flown-the-coop • 11:20a, 4/3/26
AG
flown-the-coop said:
I am going to operate on the assumption that you didn't read the article and your admitted limits on constitution and separation of powers.

In the wake of Watergate, both SCOTUS and Congress overstepped in their "investigation" of the Executive. Our Country has been worse for it.

The PRA attempts to achieve a benefit for the American people by requiring records to be preserved. It's not perfect, probably has several unconstitutional elements to it which are laid out over the 52 pages.

It probably would have never been challenged. Then Biden and Garland used it as a means to raid the personal residence of a former POTUS. The result is the whole system has to be challenged because again the Dems abused it.

The end result of all the actions of the Dems over the past decade to reign in or counteract Trump have only resulted in a stronger Trump and stronger favor.

Good job Dems.

Fair enough. I appreciate your analysis and see the logic. I did read the article but perhaps I did not understand it well.

I understand that in terms of constitutionality, it needs to be formally hammered out, but from a simple logic perspective it makes sense to me that "official" records should be preserved by the government/national archive and be independent from the winding path of politics, and personal records should be allowed to be kept private. I'm not sure what an effective, fair, apolitical, and constitutional enforcement mechanism/process for that would be, and I guess that is a longstanding issue because based on the article, the law doesn't actually have an enforcement mechanism in it.

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flown-the-coop
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In reply to Less Evil Hank Scorpio • 12:01p, 4/3/26
AG
You have the issue understood.

It's very messy. Yes, we all want records to be public. I think we all understand that something's just cannot be so, at least for a defined time period.

After 25 or 50 years, nothing should be withheld no matter what. I lean to 25z

Believe 25 should work.
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Tex100
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In reply to Gilligan • 12:33p, 4/3/26
AG
Gilligan said:
Legal or not. I don't care who you are leave confidential information at work after you leave office. Whilst in office do your job and do what you need to do and be mindful of sensitive information. Leave all of it when you get out. It's that simple. Don't leave it in your garage or estate.
. Those guys work outside the office quite a bit
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sam callahan
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12:42p, 4/3/26
You do realize the classified material Biden had was taken before he was President, right?
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TXAggie2011
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In reply to Less Evil Hank Scorpio • 1:01p, 4/3/26
AG
Quote:
I'm not a constitutional scholar by any means but it makes sense to me that the records that pertain to the country are the property of the government, not the president.

In Nixon v Administrator, the Supreme Court upheld a direct predecessor to the PRA, the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act, and said that the transfer of documents to NARA doesn't really implicate separation of powers because NARA is still in the Executive Branch, yet alone violate separation of powers.

This OLC opinion therefore felt the need to spend 10 of its 50 pages explaining why the Supreme Court was "wrong" in Nixon and that Nixon is otherwise distinguishable.
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