By Andrew Hammond
The News Tribune
While 2020 is gone, some things remain the same: Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson has filed another lawsuit against the Trump Administration.
Ferguson announced on Monday that his office filed a lawsuit against the federal government, contending that the Trump Administration is illegally proceeding with the sale of the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) building in Seattle. Joining in this effort are 29 tribes, tribal entities and communities, the state of Oregon and nine historic preservation and community groups.
This is the 85th time Ferguson has filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration. Ferguson has 36 victories and 47 cases are still awaiting a ruling.
“My late father was a regular at the National Archives — he, like so many Washingtonians, loved the place,” Ferguson said in a statement.
“He would have been shocked at the manner in which the federal government has conducted this illegal sale.”
The federal government’s plan is to transfer many of the paper and other undigitized records to Kansas City, Missouri and Riverside, California.
But Ferguson and others contend this eliminates public access to the records for most people in the Pacific Northwest.
The National Archives building in Seattle holds exclusive tribal and treaty records, Chinese Exclusion Act case files and records regarding the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The records are invaluable resources for researchers, historians and individuals seeking information about their family history or heritage.
“Ignoring the law, hiding the ball, and refusing to listen to the community — to be blunt, these federal agencies don’t give a damn about their legal obligations or what these documents mean to our region,” Ferguson said.
This fight dates back to January when Ferguson first addressed this plan. Since then others have joined the fight.
“The word ‘archives,’ from the view of law firms, businesses and courts, tends to conjure an image of a records storage facility for ‘dead files,’” Tallis King George, a Puyallup tribal attorney, said in a statement.
“I view the National Archives at Seattle as a vibrant, special collection library. … A visit to the National Archives at Seattle for native people whose ancestral, historical and cultural records are housed there, fills a deep cultural yearning to know, honor and understand the lives and sacrifices of their ancestors.”
