The Daily Fuckup

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel did not repeal the Presidential Records Act on April 1, 2026. It issued a memo saying the law is unconstitutional. That is a legal position, not a court ruling and not a change in the statute itself. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1434131/dl))

The PRA is Congress’s framework for presidential records. National Archives guidance says records created or received by the president in the course of official duties are government property, are managed by NARA at the end of the administration, and are transferred under the statute’s rules. NARA also says it provides records-management guidance to the White House but has no authority to enforce records management inside the White House. ([archives.gov](https://www.archives.gov/news/topics/presidential-records-act))

The OLC opinion took direct aim at that framework. In the memo, the department said the PRA exceeds Congress’s powers and improperly intrudes on the executive branch. Whether that argument holds up is now a separate question for the courts. For now, the statute remains in force even as DOJ says it should not be treated as constitutional. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1434131/dl))

The next day, the White House Counsel’s Office issued internal guidance. The important detail is what that guidance was and what it was not: it was a staff directive, not a judicial order, and it did not erase the statute. Later filings and public reporting described the White House as still preserving records, even while the legal basis for doing so had shifted after the OLC memo. ([archives.gov](https://www.archives.gov/presidential-records/support-to-the-white-house/records-management))

That leaves the White House in a familiar posture for a separation-of-powers fight: the executive branch has told itself how to operate, Congress’s law is still on the books, and no court has yet resolved the clash. The practical instructions may have changed on April 2. The legal argument is still only an argument. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1434131/dl))