Is the Presidential Records Act constitutional? That’s the question after the partial release of the federal government’s justification for its Mar-a-Lago raid, itself prompted by alleged violations of the act. It’s a moment to weigh the validity of this measure, passed by the Democrats in the post-Watergate Congress and signed into law by President Carter. To date, the margins of this question have only been nibbled by President Trump and his lawyers.

Before the law, White House “records were considered the President’s private property,” the Congressional Research Service reports. After its enactment, “presidential records are the property of the United States.” The law, a reaction to Watergate, found some justification in the Supreme Court’s reasoning in United States v. Nixon. That ruling eroded the blanket expectation that presidential papers were protected by executive privilege.