A U.S. historians’ organization and a government transparency group sued President Donald Trump to force his administration to comply with a presidential records preservation law.

The U.S. Justice Department declared the measure unconstitutional in a memo issued on April 1. The lawsuit was filed on Monday in federal court in Washington.

Lawsuit filed to enforce the Presidential Records Act

The American Historical Association and American Oversight filed the lawsuit in the federal court in Washington. The American Historical Association is a historians’ organization.

American Oversight is a government transparency group. The groups asked the court to declare the nearly 50-year-old Presidential Records Act to be lawful.

They also asked the court to bar federal agencies from relying on the Justice Department’s legal memo that deemed the measure illegal.

The lawsuit also asked the court for an injunction that would require Trump to comply with the law after he leaves office.

The lawsuit included this statement. “This case is about the preservation of records that document our nation’s history, and whether the American people are able to access and learn from that history,” the lawsuit said.

The White House issued a statement. “President Trump is committed to preserving records from his historic Administration and he will maintain a rigorous records retention program,” the statement said.

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Dispute centers on constitutionality of records law

The Presidential Records Act of 1978 sets out rules for the management and custody of presidential records. The law includes when a president may dispose of certain records.

Presidential records are provided to the National Archives and Records Administration after each presidential administration ends. The law has been in effect for nearly 50 years.

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued the memo on April 1. The memo said the law intrudes on the independence and autonomy of the executive branch. The memo said the president can disregard the law as unconstitutional.

The memo was signed by T. Elliot Gaiser. He is the Trump-appointed head of the legal counsel office. The memo said the records law exceeds any preservation power because Congress cannot preserve presidential records merely for the sake of posterity.

The American Historical Association and American Oversight argue that the memo contradicts a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld a prior presidential records preservation law. The groups said the executive branch does not have authority to nullify the opinion.

The lawsuit said no presidential administration of either political party had questioned the record law’s constitutionality since it was enacted. This included the first Trump administration.

The case is American Historical Association et al v. Donald Trump et al. It is in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The case number is 1:26-cv-01169.

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The plaintiffs are represented by Daniel Jacobson of Jacobson Lawyers Group and Loree Stark of American Oversight. No appearances have been made yet for the defendants.

Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement that the Justice Department is “pushing a sweeping view of presidential power that would hand control of those records to the White House, a position the Supreme Court has already rejected.”

Why this matters

The lawsuit is about the preservation of records that document the nation’s history. It concerns whether the American people are able to access and learn from that history.

The case was filed to ensure the Presidential Records Act is followed by the current administration.

The dispute comes after the Justice Department memo questioned the law. No previous administration had challenged the constitutionality of the Presidential Records Act. The outcome could determine how records are handled once the administration ends.