WA State Attorney General Challenges Closure of National Archives in Seattle

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has approved the sale of the National Archives facility in Seattle; the building and its 10-acre surrounding property. The contents of the archives, which is comprised of nearly 1 million boxes of documents and records, will be moved to National Archives storage facilities in Kansas and California. However, the decision is being vigorously opposed, both politically and legally, specifically by Bob Ferguson, the Washington State Attorney General.

From The Seattle Times:

“The recommendation was approved Friday by the U.S. Office of Management and the Budget. It’s been decried by historians, Pacific Northwest tribes, all senators from Washington, Alaska, Oregon and Idaho, and eight of the 10 Washington state representatives to Congress.

Ferguson’s office has filed 55 lawsuits against the Trump administration, and of the 24 decisions so far rendered on them, all have been in favor of his office.

Ferguson said the primary reason for the wins is that Trump’s administration “violated a seemingly arcane rule called the Administrative Procedure Act.”

The act, passed in 1946, said Ferguson, says that in rule making “the president must have a rationale, disclose that rationale to the public, and give the public an opportunity to speak about the changes.”

He said he doesn’t know if the act would apply in the closure of the National Archives here — there were no public hearings by the federal board. That’s why, he said, his staff is doing the research.”

The official statement from the National Archives can be found HERE.

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