Court Ruling Begs the Question, Is the JFK Records Act Dead?

A federal appellate court drives another nail into the coffin of a strong full disclosure law passed unanimously by Congress

The plaintiffs in the case of Mary Ferrell Foundation v Biden and the National Archives (MFF v Biden) have argued since filing their civil action in October 2022 that the process created by the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (the JFK Act) did not die with the termination — in 1998 — of the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), the panel formed under the statute to carry out declassification.

On Monday, Nov. 25, 2024, a tribunal of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected that argument, holding that the ARRB’s duties and obligations regarding declassification of such records died when the ARRB went out of business.