How did the INS battle with John Lennon end?

Question: How did the INS battle with John Lennon end?

Answer: Although John Lennon's FBI troubles were largely over after Nixon's 1972 re-election (and Nixon himself was on the way out thanks to the Watergate scandal), Lennon's INS battle to stay in the US was ongoing, even though the 1968 London misdemanor conviction -- 219 grains of cannabis resin -- would not have been enough to garner him jail time in his new adopted city.

Lennon claimed in court that the Nixon administration was behind the initial FBI invstigation; the files which proved it, obtained by [i[Rolling Stone magazine under the new Freedom of Information Act, were published four months later. In January 1975, US District Court Judge Richard Owen allowed John himself access to all the files, and in June of that year he filed suit in Manhattan federal court alleging former Attorney General John Mitchell, former Attorney General Richard Kleindienst and others of abuse of power in the FBI and INS invstigations.

On October 7, 1975, the US Court of Appeals overturned the longstanding order to leave the country, ruling that Lennon, in being held accountable for violating a foriegn law, had been denied due process. On July 27, 1976, John Lennon was finally granted permanent residency in the United States. After the hearing, Lennon quipped to reporters that he'd now act "the same as everybody else, I plan to devote myself to my wife, kids and a job."