Presidential Records Act
Definition
The Presidential Records Act (PRA) is a United States federal law passed in 1978 that establishes public ownership of records created or received by the president and staff during their administration, mandating their preservation, management, and eventual public access.
It changed the legal status of presidential papers from private property to public property, with procedures for archiving, declassification, and responding to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Examples
The Presidential Records Act turned what used to be a president's personal scrapbook into the public's endless bureaucracy binge-watch.
Lawyers spent years debating if golf scorecards fell under the Presidential Records Act during that infamous attic audit.
Thanks to the Presidential Records Act, historians now treat declassified memos like leaked celebrity diets.
Ex-presidents love quoting the Presidential Records Act when it blocks FOIA requests but ghost it faster than a bad Tinder date.