1. United States
2. Mo.
3. Letter

I am writing to you as a constituent and as an American citizen who is deeply alarmed by a recent action taken by the Department of Justice that threatens one of the foundational transparency laws of our democracy. On April 1, 2026, the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel issued a 52-page opinion declaring the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional and stating that the President "need not further comply with its dictates." This is the first time in the nearly half century since the law was enacted that any presidential administration has challenged its constitutionality. No president before this one, not Nixon, not Reagan, not either Bush, not Clinton, Obama, or Biden, ever took this position. The Presidential Records Act was passed by Congress in 1978 in direct response to the Watergate scandal. It establishes that official presidential records are the property of the American people, not the president, and that those records must be turned over to the National Archives when a president leaves office, where they eventually become available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. This law is the reason we know what happened in prior administrations. It is the mechanism by which citizens hold power accountable across time. The DOJ's opinion, if allowed to stand, would allow the current administration and every future administration to treat official government records as private property. It would allow records documenting decisions made with taxpayer money, in the name of the American people, to be concealed, controlled, or destroyed. It would put at risk hundreds of millions of documents from the current and prior administrations. It would effectively end presidential transparency as it has existed in this country for nearly fifty years. Legal scholars have noted that this opinion defies binding Supreme Court precedent from Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, in which the Court unanimously upheld Congress's authority to regulate presidential records. The American Historical Association and American Oversight have already filed suit in federal court to block this opinion from taking effect. I am asking you to take the following specific actions: 1. Publicly and formally state your position on whether the Presidential Records Act is constitutional and whether you support its enforcement. 2. Co-sponsor or support legislation that reaffirms the constitutionality and enforceability of the Presidential Records Act and strengthens congressional oversight of presidential recordkeeping. 3. Use your oversight authority to demand that the Department of Justice provide a full accounting of how this opinion was developed, who authorized it, and what steps the administration is taking to comply with existing law in the meantime. 4. Publicly oppose any effort by the executive branch to retain, conceal, or destroy official presidential records at the end of this or any future administration. The Presidential Records Act is not a partisan issue. It is a democracy issue. Every future administration, regardless of party, will be governed by the precedent set right now. A president who can destroy the record of their own conduct is a president without accountability. That is not the America that Congress was created to defend. I am watching how you respond to this moment. I will remember what you do and do not do. And I am not alone.