Appeals court questions Trump's claim to own presidential records
Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 17 Oct, 01:20 · Archive
A federal appeals court appeared to reject the Trump administration's assertion that a law regulating presidential records is unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday appeared poised to reject the Trump administration's assertion that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional. Trump administration lawyer John Bailey argued the act was an 'unconstitutional intrusion on the presidency', saying that 'consistent with history and tradition ... the president's papers belong to the president'.
The judges appeared deeply sceptical of this position. Judge Patricia Millett asked whether, if the act were unconstitutional, the president could 'offer on eBay to sell them, all of our national security secrets, to the highest bidder'. Judge Cornelia Pillard questioned what would happen if presidential records were inherited by the president's relatives and sold to foreign powers.
The Presidential Records Act came into focus when President Donald Trump was accused of keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence. The FBI seized the documents in a raid in August 2022. The case could ultimately reach the Supreme Court.
How it is being reported
- Appeals court appears to reject Trump claims of records ownershipA federal appeals court appeared poised to reject the Trump administration's assertion that a law regulating presidential records is unconstitutional.UPI · 17 Oct, 01:03
- Do Americans own the president's papers? Appeals court to weigh inThe administration says papers created in the White House belong to Donald Trump, not to the American people. The case could ultimately end up at the conservative-leaning Supreme Court.NPR · 16 Oct, 10:00
In this story: Donald Trump · Patricia Millett · Cornelia Pillard · U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · National Archives · Mar-a-Lago
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