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Title 50 — War and National DefenseRelease 119-73not60

§4217 Documents Relating to the Internment

Title 50 › Chapter 52— RESTITUTION FOR WORLD WAR II INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE-AMERICANS AND ALEUTS › Subchapter I— UNITED STATES CITIZENS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY AND RESIDENT JAPANESE ALIENS › § 4217

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Archivist of the United States must keep any documents, testimony, and records the Commission made or received during its investigation. The Archivist must preserve them in the National Archives and let the public use them for research. The Clerk of the House can let the Archivist make House records available if they are not classified for national security, have existed at least 30 years, and relate to the evacuation, relocation, and internment period. That permission comes from the House’s rulemaking power and only affects how those records are released; it only replaces other House rules if the 30-year rule conflicts, and the House can change its rules at any time.

Full Legal Text

Title 50, §4217

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)All documents, personal testimony, and other records created or received by the Commission during its inquiry shall be kept and maintained by the Archivist of the United States who shall preserve such documents, testimony, and records in the National Archives of the United States. The Archivist shall make such documents, testimony, and records available to the public for research purposes.
(b)(1)The Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized to permit the Archivist of the United States to make available for use records of the House not classified for national security purposes, which have been in existence for not less than thirty years, relating to the evacuation, relocation, and internment of individuals during the evacuation, relocation, and internment period.
(2)This subsection is enacted as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House of Representatives, but is applicable only with respect to the availability of records to which it applies, and supersedes other rules only to the extent that the time limitation established by this section with respect to such records is specifically inconsistent with such rules, and is enacted with full recognition of the constitutional right of the House to change its rules at any time, in the same manner and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of the House.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was formerly classified to section 1989b–6 of the former Appendix to this title prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

50 U.S.C. § 4217

Title 50 — War and National Defense

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60