Pentagon Papers Grand Jury Records Out of Reach for Historian

Grand jury records linked to the Pentagon Papers, the government’s study of the Vietnam War, will stay under wraps after the First Circuit ruled Monday that a federal court can’t order their release simply because the historical interest “outweighs any countervailing considerations.”

Harvard history professor Jill Lepore filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the records after learning they were held under indefinite seal at the National Archives in Boston. The records centered on Samuel Popkin, a political scientist who worked in Vietnam and spent eight days in jail after refusing to testify about some subjects.

The U.S. District ...