Actor Jon Cryer Sues U.S. For Records About His Pacifist Uncle – Reuters

Actor Jon Cryer. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Television and film actor Jon Cryer is suing a U.S. federal records agency to obtain records about an uncle and the pacifist group he worked for, according to a complaint filed on Friday in Washington, D.C., federal court.

Cryer, famous for his roles in the television comedy “Two and a Half Men” and the 1986 film “Pretty in Pink,” filed the complaint against the National Archives and Records Administration, home to U.S. foundational documents including the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Cryer’s lawsuit said the U.S. has not released certain records to him about his late uncle Peter Kiger, a staff member of a pacifist group called the War Resisters League.

Kiger, who died in 2019, refused to register for the Vietnam draft and was arrested dozens of times in the 1960s and 1970s, according to an obituary the group posted. The lawsuit said the FBI had at one time surveilled the War Resisters League.

An archives specialist said a search of files showed hundreds of FBI-related pages dating from 1965 to 1973, according to the lawsuit. The agency said it estimated it would take 39 months to complete its processing of records.

“Mr. Cryer is entitled to timely receipt of non-exempt copies of all records responsive to his” public records lawsuit, his lawyer, Mark Zaid, wrote in the complaint.

A representative from the archives said the agency could not comment on the pending litigation.

Zaid has long practiced in national security law in Washington, D.C., representing clients in disputes about security clearances, the First Amendment and public records.

Zaid told Reuters in an email on Friday that he and Cryer connected on Twitter a few years ago and became friends, sharing an interest in the late comic book artist Jack Kirby. Zaid said Cryer’s request for records was driven by a desire to know more about his mother’s brother.

“For her sake and mine we want the government to turn over their 660 pages of documents about a man whose legacy we wish to truly understand,” Cryer said in a statement through his lawyer.

The case is Jon Cryer v. National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:22-cv-00041.

For Cryer: Mark Zaid and Bradley Moss

For NARA: No immediate appearance

(UPDATE: This article was updated with comment from Jon Cryer.)

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