44 U.S.C. § 2205
Section 2205 · Exceptions to restricted access
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Donald Trump v. Bennie Thompson (2021)
Most recently applied in Donald Trump v. Bennie Thompson (December 2021)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Notwithstanding any restrictions on access imposed pursuant to sections 2204 and 2208 of this title—
the Archivist and persons employed by the National Archives and Records Administration who are engaged in the performance of normal archival work shall be permitted access to Presidential records in the custody of the Archivist;
subject to any rights, defenses, or privileges which the United States or any agency or person may invoke, Presidential records shall be made available—
pursuant to subpoena or other judicial process issued by a court of competent jurisdiction for the purposes of any civil or criminal investigation or proceeding;
to an incumbent President if such records contain information that is needed for the conduct of current business of the incumbent President’s office and that is not otherwise available; and
to either House of Congress, or, to the extent of matter within its jurisdiction, to any committee or subcommittee thereof if such records contain information that is needed for the conduct of its business and that is not otherwise available; and
the Presidential records of a former President shall be available to such former President or the former President’s designated representative.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2014—Pub. L. 113–187, § 2(a)(2)(B)(i), substituted “sections 2204 and 2208 of this title” for “section 2204” in introductory provisions.
Par. (2)(A). Pub. L. 113–187, § 2(a)(2)(B)(ii), substituted “subpoena” for “subpena”.
Par. (2)(B). Pub. L. 113–187, § 8(5)(A), substituted “the incumbent President’s” for “his”.
Par. (3). Pub. L. 113–187, § 8(5)(B), substituted “the former President’s” for “his”.
1984—Par. (1). Pub. L. 98–497 substituted “National Archives and Records Administration” for “National Archives and Records Service of the General Services Administration”.
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 98–497 effective Apr. 1, 1985, see section 301 of Pub. L. 98–497, set out as a note under section 2102 of this title.