Justice Department says Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional

The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued a memo concluding the 1978 Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional. The memo says the PRA exceeds Congress's oversight and preservation powers and lacks a valid legislative purpose. If implemented, the opinion would let presidents treat official records as private property, keeping or destroying documents instead of turning them over to the National Archives. That change would undercut decades of law and cripple congressional oversight, historical preservation, and criminal investigations.