IRVINE : Professor Pushes Bid to Open Lennon Files

Attorneys for a UC Irvine history professor are scheduled to present arguments today before a federal appeals court as they seek to open FBI files on John Lennon.

The case will test whether the FBI can cite national security as a reason for refusing to open its files on the slain rock musician, said Dan Marmalefsky, who is representing the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

The appearance before the U.S. 9th Court of Appeals comes after a federal judge ruled in favor of the FBI in March, 1988, and refused to release deleted portions of the file on the one-time Beatle, who was shot to death by a disturbed fan in 1980.

UCI history instructor Jon Wiener launched the lawsuit in 1983 as he sought FBI documents under the Freedom of Information Act for a biography of Lennon. Wiener could not be reached for comment on the latest twist in his lawsuit but said in a statement:

“It’s ridiculous to say that releasing the file would threaten national security. Lennon hoped to impact the reelection of (President Richard M.) Nixon, but that’s not a crime. That’s precisely the type of activity protected by the First Amendment.”

Wiener sought the files originally in 1981 as part of his research on his book “Come Together: John Lennon in His Time.”

He received about two-thirds of the FBI file on Lennon, which included transcriptions of Beatles songs, photocopies of album covers and music reviews. Some of the reports had been sent to top officials in the Nixon Administration and to late FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

But about 69 pages of the file were withheld by the agency, which cited several grounds including national security and “retaliation by a foreign power.”