JFK Researchers Appeal for Justice in Federal Court

Ninth Circuit to examine district court’s faulty interpretation of JFK Act

Entrance to the courthouse of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco (Curbed SF)

The nonprofit Mary Ferrell Foundation (MFF), which maintains the largest online repository of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, filed suit against President Biden and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in October 2022, charging the defendants with failure to enforce the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act (“JFK Records Act” or “JFK Act”).

The JFK Act, a sweeping law Congress passed unanimously in 1992, mandates the public release of all assassination-related material in the government’s possession. Thirty-two years after it was passed, thousands of records are still withheld.

In January 2024, Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed all but three of MFF’s claims — i.e., litigation over (1) congressional JFK records, (2) destroyed JFK records, and (3) archival finding aids.

The plaintiffs believe Judge Seeborg has made serious errors of judgment and now challenge his decision. On May 28, MFF filed an interlocutory appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, asking the appellate court to address issues the lower court dismissed or ignored, even as the lower court settles the surviving claims.