A federal judge has ordered White House staff and several of President Donald Trump’s top advisers, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, to comply with a federal law requiring preservation of presidential records after ruling the administration is likely violating the statute.
U.S. District Judge John Bates issued the preliminary injunction in lawsuits brought by historians, watchdog groups, and press freedom organizations challenging the Trump administration’s position that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional.
Wiles, one of Trump’s closest advisers and the highest-ranking White House staff member, was specifically named as a defendant alongside other senior administration officials and offices within the Executive Office of the President.
The dispute began after the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion in April concluding that Congress lacked constitutional authority to regulate presidential records through the Presidential Records Act—a post-Watergate law designed to preserve official White House materials for public access and historical review.
A day later, White House counsel David Warrington issued new records guidance instructing Executive Office staff on preserving materials outside the framework of the law. Bates found that policy likely conflicts with the statute because it allows some text messages to be deleted and fails to clearly address records created directly by the president or vice president.
The ruling bars White House officials other than Trump and Vice President JD Vance from relying on the Justice Department opinion or the revised White House guidance. Bates declined to directly enjoin Trump or Vance, citing long-standing separation-of-powers concerns limiting courts from ordering a president to carry out official duties.
In his sharply worded opinion, Bates rejected the administration’s constitutional arguments and stated that Congress has authority to require preservation of presidential records under both the property clause and necessary and proper clause of the Constitution.
The judge also noted that presidents, including Trump during his first term, complied with the law for nearly five decades without formally challenging its constitutionality.
The lawsuits were filed by the American Historical Association, American Oversight, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. These groups argued that failure to preserve presidential records could permanently deprive historians, journalists, and the public of access to key government materials.
Bates wrote that records improperly deleted or destroyed would be “lost forever to history,” adding that preserving presidential materials serves an important public interest by allowing future administrations, Congress, and the public to review the actions of past presidents.
