PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2019-05-07 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Did U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings Write a Bill to Keep All of Barack Obama's Records Sealed? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • On 26 November 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law H.R. 1233, the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014. That bill, sponsored by Democratic U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, was described in a press release as one that modernizes records management by focusing more directly on electronic records, and complements efforts by the National Archives and the Office of Management and Budget to implement the President’s 2011 Memorandum on Managing Government Records. A meme that circulated in 2019, during a period of controversy over Congress' attempts to obtain access to some of President Donald Trump's records (such as his tax returns), held that Cummings' bill had been intended to keep all of [Barack] Obama's records sealed: First of all, the above meme plays on the false premise that years after the end of Obama's presidency, a number of his key personal records remain sealed — that is, records that would ordinarily be accessible by the public have been restricted via court orders (see example below of such records): In fact, most of Obama's primary personal records have either long been available to the public (e.g., Illinois state Senate records, Selective Service registration); are restricted from public access due to existing federal laws that apply to all Americans (e.g., college records); or simply aren't known to exist (baptismal record, college thesis). Moreover, H.R. 1233 applies only to federal records (i.e., records made or received by an agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business), and none of the record types listed above — with the exception of Obama's Selective Service registration, which has been public for many years now — is federal in nature. In fact, H.R. 1233 included a number of provisions to facilitate and strengthen the ability of the U.S. government to collect, preserve, and release federal records in a timely fashion, not to promote keeping them sealed: The one tiny grain of truth in this claim is that Cummings' bill included a provision allowing a former or current President 60 days to review and contest potential public disclosure of any presidential record not previously made available. However, that provision applies to all Presidents (former and current); such claims must be made based on grounds of constitutionally based privilege; and privilege claims are subject to being overriden by the incumbent president or by court order: As the National Coalition for History noted, H.R. 1233 followed from Obama's efforts early in his administration to strengthen public access to presidential records: In short, Cummings introduced legislation intended to improve public access to all presidential records, not to keep Obama’s records sealed. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url