On Oct. 1, a federal district judge in Washington, D.C., struck down part of a little known executive order signed by President Bush in the early months of his presidency. That executive order, E.O. 13233, unilaterally overruled key provisions of the Presidential Records Act, passed by Congress in the aftermath of Watergate. This law required that presidential records be turned over to the National Archives after a 12-year “cooling off” period and that once these records had been turned over to the National Archives, the only restrictions on access would be claims of constitutional privilege, including national security.

E.O. 13233 declared that, in spite of the PRA, both a sitting president and a former president had almost unlimited power to prevent the release of presidential papers indefinitely, even when there were no constitutional claims asserted. Further, E.O. 13233 provided that this power of restricting access extended to former vice presidents and that, if a president or vice president became incapacitated or died, this power would then devolve to the president’s or vice president’s families.

As soon as E.O. 13233 was signed, journalists and historians reacted strongly against what they perceived to be a presidential dictate directly violating the PRA. Indeed, the underlying event that led to the issuance of E.O. 13233 was the imminent release of papers from the presidency of Ronald Reagan, which, apparently, made President Bush uneasy. On Nov. 28, 2001, the American Historical Association, the largest professional organization of historians in the United States, filed suit in federal court to have E.O 13233 ruled illegal. On Oct. 1, 2007, this happened.

The federal district court decision in this case does not invalidate all of E.O. 13233. It does state that former presidents’ and vice presidents’ papers must be available to the public except when a claim of privilege or national security is exerted. But the decision expressly did not discuss the extension of protection to former vice presidents’ papers nor the provisions that would give the right to extend privilege to the families of former presidents and vice presidents.

Even without deciding the legality of these aspects of the executive order, however, the Oct. 1 decision must be seen as a major victory for proponents of government accountability and a major defeat for the Bush administration and its obsession with secrecy.

Even more to the point, the Oct. 1 decision will become more significant when the present administration leaves office. Although under the PRA, presidential and vice presidential papers will not become available for 12 years, once this period is over, journalists, historians, political scientists and other interested parties will be able to see much more clearly into the decision-making process of the Bush years. Given the crucial events and the controversies that have occurred during President Bush’s years in office, this is extremely important to the nation. It may take 12 years, but at least then the truth will eventually come out.