A federal judge on Wednesday ordered White House personnel to continue complying with the decades-old Presidential Records Act after the Justice Department argued in a legal opinion last month that the law was “unconstitutional” and that President Donald Trump has the authority to destroy presidential records from his term.

In response to a lawsuit challenging that memo, U.S. District Judge John Bates found the 1978 law is likely constitutional and issued a preliminary injunction effectively blocking the legal opinion, released by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

“On the merits, the Records Act is likely constitutional. It was validly enacted by Congress under the Property Clause because Congress may prospectively designate presidential records as federal property and then regulate that property,” Bates wrote in the 54-page ruling.

The Presidential Records Act, which Congress passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal, establishes that presidential records belong to the public and must be preserved and eventually transferred to the National Archives. Bates noted that the OLC’s legal opinion on the Records Act relied on a “stark misreading” of Supreme Court precedent when it decided that Trump “need not further comply” with the act.

He also rejected the Justice Department’s argument that the act was unconstitutional because presidential papers were considered personal property until the the law was enacted in 1978.

Bates’ latest ruling directs administration officials to comply with requirements under the law, which mandates the preservation of official presidential records and communications generated during government business. The judge said U.S. officials must take steps to ensure records are retained in accordance with federal law.

Though Bates ordered White House personnel to comply with the law, the judge stopped short of directly ordering Trump and Vice President JD Vance to do so. Bates noted that courts generally may not “enjoin the President in the performance of his official duties.”

The order also excludes the National Archives and Records Administration, the archivist, the Justice Department and the attorney general.

The order takes effect May 26.

The case was brought in April after watchdog groups American Oversight and the American Historical Association sued the Trump administration over the OLC’s legal memo. The lawsuit alleged that the administration “believes that the President is legally free to destroy records of his official government conduct, or even spirit away the records for his own future personal use.”

Recommended

Ebony Davis

Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at CNN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.