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President Bush's comments during press availability, November 2, 2001
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer's comments, November 1, 2001
Robert Dallek op-ed, Los Angeles Times, November 25, 2001, "All the Presidents' Words Hushed"

 

For immediate release,
28 November 2001
For more information:
Thomas Blanton, 202/994-7068
Scott Nelson, 202/588-7724
HISTORIANS, PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS SUE TO STOP BUSH ORDER

Say New Restrictions on White House Files Violate Presidential Records Act

“Bush Order Attempts to Overturn the Law, Take the Power Back”


Washington D.C., 28 November 2001- Today the National Security Archive at George Washington University joined the American Historical Association (AHA) and other scholars and public interest groups in filing suit to stop implementation of President Bush’s November 1st executive order 13,233 which limits public access to presidential records.  For a copy of the complaint and related documents, see www.nsarchive.org and www.citizen.org.

Represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group (lead attorney Scott Nelson), the plaintiffs include the Archive, the AHA, the Organization of American Historians, Vanderbilt University Professor Hugh Graham, the University of Wisconsin Professor Stanley Kutler, Public Citizen and the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press.

The legal brief filed today in U.S. District Court in Washington argues that the Bush executive order violates the Presidential Records Act and asks for a declaratory judgment preventing the Archivist of the United States from implementing the order. The suit also requests the court to compel release of 68,000 pages of records from former President Reagan’s files that have been withheld at the direction of the Bush White House since January despite the direct requirements of the Presidential Records Act.

“The Presidential Records Act of 1978 was meant to shift power over White House documents from former presidents to professional government archivists and ultimately to the public,” commented National Security Archive director Thomas Blanton. “But the Bush order attempts to overturn the law, take the power back, and let presidents past and present delay public access indefinitely.”

Among other successful cases, the National Security Archive and Public Citizen Litigation Group brought the 1989 lawsuit that overcame the legal resistance of three administrations (Reagan, Bush I, Clinton) to save the White House e-mail for posterity.  The Archive currently has Freedom of Information Act requests pending at the Reagan Presidential Library (Simi Valley, California) and the Bush Presidential Library (College Station, Texas) for records covered by the November 1st executive order.

Complaint, filed November 28, 2001, in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., 23 pp.
Executive Order 13233, "Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act," November 5, 2001, 7 pp.
Full text of the Presidential Records Act, Public Law 95-591, November 4, 1978, 7 pp.
Executive Order 12667, "Presidential Records," January 16, 1989
Oversight Hearing on "The Implementation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978," November 6, 2001, List of Witnesses, 1 p.
Oversight Hearing on "The Implementation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978," November 6, 2001, "Reps. Waxman and Schakowsky Call on President Bush to Rescind his Executive Order that Greatly Restricts Public Access to Presidential Records" with letter to President Bush attached, 3 pp.
Oversight Hearing on "The Implementation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978," November 6, 2001, Opening Statement of Rep. Stephen Horn, 2 pp.
Oversight Hearing on "The Implementation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978," November 6, 2001, Opening Statement of Rep. Doug Ose, "Opening a New Door to History: The Presidential Records Act Takes Effect," 1 p.
Oversight Hearing on "The Implementation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978," November 6, 2001, Statement of John W. Carlin, Archivist of the United States, 9 pp.
Oversight Hearing on "The Implementation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978," November 6, 2001, Statement of M. Edward Whelan III, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, 4 pp.
Oversight Hearing on "The Implementation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978," November 6, 2001, Statement of Anna K. Nelson, Professor, American University, 5 pp.
Oversight Hearing on "The Implementation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978," November 6, 2001, Statement of Mark J. Rozell, Professor of Politics, Catholic University, 24 pp.
Oversight Hearing on "The Implementation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978," November 6, 2001, Statement of Peter M. Shane, Professor, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University
About the National Security ArchiveSearch the Archive WebsiteArchive NewsDeclassified Documents OnlineArchive PublicationsFreedom of Information ActInternship OpportunitiesDoing Research at the Archive