Case no. 19-1273, Assassination Archives and Research Center v. CIA

On June 8, 2020 the Solicitor General of the United States, Noel J. Francisco, filed a waiver of response in AARC’s petition to the United States Supreme Court seeking documents related to new information related to the assassination of President Kennedy. AARC seeks documents related to a briefing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on September 25, 1963 by CIA Cuban operations head Desmond Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald informed the Joint Chiefs that CIA was studying in detail a parallel in history to develop an approach to dealing with Fidel Castro- the July 20, 1944 plot by German military officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler. One-time CIA Director Allen Dulles was in close contact in 1944 with the German plotters from his position as head of European operations for OSS in Bern Switzerland. CIA denies finding any such records and instead has pointed to the National Archives as a possible source for information. Clear Supreme Court case law holds that federal agencies cannot shirk their duties under the Freedom of Information Act by pointing requesters to another agency of the government, as CIA has done.

Solicitor General Francisco’s waiver of a response is another instance of CIA failing to address troubling facts related to the assassination of President Kennedy. A copy of the waiver is attached. The Supreme Court is likely to take up AARC’s petition before its summer adjournment at the end of June.

AARC v. CIA12 CIA Waiver Letter 19-1273 AARC v. CIA12 CIA Waiver Letter 19-1273

Relevant to the AARC’s efforts to seek the release of critical assassination-related materials being withheld by the U.S. federal government:

In the Supreme Court of the United States. ____________________

Assassination Archives and Research Center,

Petitioner,

-v-

Central Intelligence Agency,

Respondent. _____________________

On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit _____________________

PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI ____________________

This Court granted of a writ of certiorari on February 28, 2020 in case # 19-547, Fish and Wildlife Serv., et al. v. Sierra Club, Inc. That case presents an issue closely similar to one in Petitioner’s case involving the deliberate process privilege under Exemption 5 of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5). The results of the two cases arising from different circuits are in conflict. The Fish and Wildlife Service case presents an issue of compelled release under the FOIA of draft documents for which the government asserts a deliberative process privilege under FOIA Exemption 5. Petitioner AARC’s case involves the Central Intelligence Agency’s successful assertion of the Exemption 5 deliberative process privilege for information reflecting CIA’s search activities in responding to Petitioner’s FOIA request. Petitioner’s FOIA request relates to a matter of public importance- new information about the circumstances of the assassination of President Kennedy.

AARC v. CIA12 cert petition

AARC v. CIA12 final appendix