On November 2, 2011, more than thirty organizations backing greater accountability and transparency in government, including SLA, wrote a letter in support of the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2011, H.R. 3071. The bill provides a framework for the assertion of privilege by a former president and clarifies the rights and obligations of the incumbent president and the Archivist of the United States in dealing with such claims.
Specifically, the bill imposes a time limit in which a former president must assert any claim of privilege upon a determination of the Archivist to make available to the public a record of that former president. The bill also establishes processes for managing the disclosure of records upon the assertion of privilege by a former president, and grants to the incumbent president the power to decide whether or not to uphold any privilege claim of a former president. Further, the decision of the incumbent president to release a document over a claim of privilege by a former president controls, absent a court order to the contrary.
Read letter.
