Washington DC - A federal judge recently ruled that President Donald Trump and his administration must follow the decades-old Presidential Records Act after the Department of Justice argued they shouldn't have to.
According to ABC News, District Judge John Bates ruled that the PRA is likely constitutional and that there appears to be a "substantial risk" that the White House is not complying with the law.
The judge ordered the Trump administration to begin complying by May 26.
The ruling came after the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel argued in an opinion last month that the PRA – which ensures that presidential records become public after a president leaves office – is unconstitutional and "untethered from any valid and identifiable legislative purpose."
In his ruling, Judge Bates argued that the DOJ's position would "disable Congress and future Presidents from reflecting on experience, in defiance of the very words engraved on the National Archives Building in Washington: 'What is past is prologue.'"
While running for president in 2024, Trump faced federal charges for taking boxes of records, including classified documents, from the White House after his first term.
The case was dismissed shortly before the election due to concerns the judge raised about Special Counsel Jack Smith being assigned to prosecute the case.