Presidential Records Act PRA

From George Washington to Jimmy Carter, Presidents treated their papers as private property, taking them when they left office and deciding what to donate, sell, or destroy. After Richard Nixon resigned, Congress passed the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 to keep his tapes and papers in government custody, and the Supreme Court upheld it in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services in 1977. The Presidential Records Act, signed by Carter on November 4, 1978, applied the principle to all future Presidents, beginning with Ronald Reagan in 1981.

The act declares that presidential records, the documents created or received by the President, Vice President, and their staffs in carrying out official duties, belong to the United States. Presidents must manage them during their terms and may dispose of records only after consulting the Archivist. When a President leaves office, the National Archives takes custody, and the records become available under the Freedom of Information Act after five years, though a President may restrict certain categories for up to twelve years. Former and incumbent Presidents may assert executive privilege over releases. A 2014 amendment requires officials using personal email for official business to copy the messages to official accounts within 20 days.

The act has been at the center of recent disputes. After Donald Trump's first term, the National Archives recovered boxes of records from his Florida home, and the FBI's August 2022 search there led to criminal charges that were later dismissed. A special counsel also investigated classified documents found at Joe Biden's former office and home and declined to bring charges in 2024. The act contains no enforcement penalties of its own, which critics say weakens it, while others say criminal statutes on classified information already apply.