The National Archives and Records Administration houses our national treasures.

Its museum is the permanent home of the U.S. Constitution and hundreds of other historical documents — more than 13 billion pages of them, actually. You can think of the National Archives as the nation’s hippocampus, the place where memories are stored. And just as with the human brain, when memory is compromised, the consequences can be devastating.

Over the past several years, that is exactly what has been happening. Like a degenerative and deadly disease, politicization has reached our nation’s hippocampus.

In 2021, the NARA created a “racism task force” to combat “structural racism” and the popular positive portrayal of the Founding Fathers.

Conservatives had a cow. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), for instance, blasted them for violating their mission. “The National Archives’ work to create ‘safe spaces’ directly interferes with its sober mission of preserving our nation’s history,” he said .

Now, NARA is under fire once again as it is set to release records to the James Comer-chaired House Oversight Committee related to whether the president’s scandal-ridden son, Hunter Biden, used Air Force Two for personal gain.

Last month, responding to a Freedom of Information Act request by Southeastern Legal Foundation, NARA revealed that it has nearly 5,400 records that likely demonstrate how President Joe Biden used pseudonyms (Robin Ware, Robert L. Peters, and JRB Ware) in private communications while serving as vice president.

The revelation has served as ammunition for Republicans since it appears to contradict the narrative of ignorance regarding the president’s family’s foreign business dealings. “Evidence reveals that access was wide open for his family’s influence peddling,” Comer said in a statement. "We already have evidence of then-Vice President Biden speaking, dining, and having coffee with his son's foreign business associates," he continued, referencing former Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer’s testimony.

Since then, though, the public hasn't learned much about the private communications, which is why, with the additional weight of an impeachment inquiry, House Republicans seek to accelerate the process.

What’s clear is that it’s not a lack of evidence or Republican effort that has stifled new revelations in this matter. Instead, the culprit has been NARA and its refusal to produce a single email since the FOIA request, which was made in June 2022.

The existence of these emails has been acknowledged and their importance has been illustrated. Nonetheless, even after substantial pressure, the agency has refused to hand over the full and unredacted emails for appropriate congressional investigation.

Comer has already demanded that NARA hand over the unredacted records that show the president using such pseudonyms. And while incompetence is the usual suspect, there are reasons to believe that the politicization of the institution may have something to do with the delay.

Another interesting fact making NARA look partisan is that private equity billionaire and Biden ally David Rubenstein is one of its largest patrons.

The billionaire has not only previously celebrated Thanksgiving with the Biden family at his Nantucket estate (three times), but he has also assumed an important role in staffing NARA, with connections to NARA’s last two archivists.

In short, you don’t need a tin foil hat to come to the conclusion that the home of our Constitution has been compromised. It’s actually pretty hard to ignore. We all remember how federal agencies acted when a Republican lived in the White House. We still have our memories, and we should make sure our nation maintains them too.

Juan P. Villasmil is an ISI journalism fellow serving as an editorial assistant with the Spectator World. He is also a Young Voices contributor.