Preservation letters are stock-in-trade in the legal world. They serve an important role, putting parties on notice that they're expected to preserve documents, communications, and other evidence ahead of some potential litigation, and failure to do so could be sanctionable. For instance, in a civil lawsuit, the failure of a defendant to preserve evidence after being properly placed on notice could result in having their pleadings (including applicable defenses) stricken, meaning they basically can't properly raise and argue their defense. The bottom line: Preservation letters are taken seriously. 

Whether and to what extent that translates into the governmental realm may be debatable, but GOP leaders in the Senate and the House are wasting no time putting key agencies and personnel in the Biden-Harris administration on notice that they are expected to preserve various records ahead of their exodus in January. 

On Tuesday, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) directed a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Special Counsel Jack Smith, requesting that they preserve all records regarding the investigation into President-elect Donald Trump. 

Top Republican senators are telling officials in the Department of Justice to ensure that all records concerning the investigation into President-elect Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith are preserved ahead of the new administration. 

"[C]onsidering the Justice Department’s past destruction of federal records relevant to congressional oversight and political bias infecting its decision-making process, we request that you preserve all records related to the Justice Department’s criminal investigations of former President Trump by Special Counsel Smith," wrote Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in a letter to Smith, Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray. 

"The improper conduct of the past cannot be repeated in this matter; therefore, all records must be preserved so that Congress can perform an objective and independent review."

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On Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) got in on the action and directed his own letter to the DOJ Antitrust Division about its rumored aggressive move to crack down on American businesses in the waning days of the administration. 

Jordan directed similar letters to FTC Chair Lina Khan (asking her to produce all outstanding documents owed the committee and preserve records relating to the agency's operations under the Biden-Harris administration) and to CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam (asking him to cease regulatory efforts and preserve records related to the CFTC's operations under the current administration). 

Do these requests have much in the way of teeth? That remains to be seen. But at minimum, the bureaucracy is being placed on notice not to get shred-happy as they prepare to welcome the incoming Trump administration.