Comments on: Obama – Executive Order on Presidential Records

By: John Q Public

John Q Public — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:06:50 +0000

For those of us who are not lawyers or constitutional scholars, what does this Executive Order ACTUALLY DO?

I've tried reading it, but I fall asleep at about the second paragraph.

By: Wendy Reynolds

Wendy Reynolds — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:45:59 +0000

It's funny how records management has surged into prominence in the past few weeks – first, with the concern that NARA and/or Library of Congress would not have the capacity to store the volume of electronic records (mostly e-mail) generated by the Bush administration, then the sudden disappearance/reappearance of 15 million records related to the Katrina response and the war in Iraq.
For all its bluster, it is nice to see the Obama administration thinking about this issue in advance, rather than bumbling around afterward.

By: John G

John G — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 03:44:12 +0000

I suppose it adds to the apparent legitimacy of the action for it to be expressed in such archaic legalese ("gee, I guess he's really the President, he's sounding like the other Presidents"), but as a matter of pure (?) style, if you start "by the authority vested in me…" should you not continue "I order that…", rather than "it is hereby ordered" (not even "by me")?

Is there any legal point to the recital of the authority, especially when it is so general? Or is it just bluff and bluster while people start paying attention, or to make them pay attention by mentioning such important stuff as the Constitution and the laws of the USA?