Last April, I blogged the flap over the Bush administration's attempt to replace the Archivist of the United States, something that looks suspiciously like an attempt to have a hand-picked successor on hand next January, which when the GHW Bush administration papers become potentially open to public viewing. The Washington Post has an article on the issue, which includes a thumbnail of the proposed new Archivist's confirmation hearings. It has to be said that he doesn't sound so bad…although why the Bush people wanted to push out the incumbent early remains very mysterious.
Recent Bluessky Posts- Had one been elected promising national health that would have been strong evidence of a winning coalition for it. That sort of thing becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy sometimes. Electoral campaigns are not the moment to discuss the nuts and bolts of horse-trading. They're the time to inspire. April 29, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Emma Cave, Keeping Pace with Technological Advances, JOTWELL (April 29, 2026) (reviewing Neera Bhatia, Technology, Health, and Law in Life and Death Before the Cradle to Beyond the Grave (2025)), health.jotwell.com/keeping-pace.... April 29, 2026 Jotwell
- Seems to me there ought to be a problem if large numbers of women whose married names didn't match their birth names will need to get a passport in order to vote, and that passport will come with a partisan portrait. www.thebulwark.com/p/exclusive-... April 29, 2026 Michael Froomkin
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- If anything this post understates the case for the transparent idiocy of the new Comey indictment. I really wonder what the people who signed it think they are doing, and how they got that way. I sure hope I never see any former law student of mine in such a position. April 28, 2026 Michael Froomkin
If you don’t think the fix is in, I have a small, but valuable bridge in Brooklyn to sell you
there’s also something about the 9// papers (the unclassifed ones) becoming available – or not – during the new term of the new archivist. I posted about it here.
John Dean has pointed out that documents from the Bush 41 administation are due for release and Bush 41 has issued an executive order that allows a variety of people to restrict release of documents from prior adminstrations. The executive order conflicts with the statute authorizing document release after twelve years. I’m not sure who has standing to force release of docments, but it seems the Archivist may be the primary positions with the authority to release documents and challenge the executive order.
Congress may be able to challenge restriction of documents, but it the challenge to Bush 41’s executive order may need to be generated by a Republican controlled committee. A Bush Archivist might be far less likely to challenge the executive order that allows not only Bush 41, but members of his administration and Bush family members to object to document release.