Latest news with #COINTELPRO
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Would Releasing the Martin Luther King Files Help Curb the Surveillance State?
The federal government is seeking to unseal long-classified FBI surveillance records on Martin Luther King Jr. nearly two years before their court-ordered release date (January 2027) and 56 years after his assassination. The King family and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which King founded, have objected to the early release, arguing the files contain illegally obtained wiretaps and personal information that should remain private. However, the compelling public interest could outweigh the family's understandable desire to shield King's memory from renewed smear campaigns. The FBI waged a psychological war against King through its COINTELPRO program, a counterintelligence operation targeting civil rights leaders suspected of communist ties. With backing from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and approval from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, agents illegally wiretapped King's home, offices, and hotel rooms. What started as a probe into alleged communist ties morphed into a protracted campaign to destroy King's reputation, utilizing fabricated stories, false documents, and anonymous threats. The recordings and accounts of King's private life, deemed likely illegal and unethical by the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1979, were sealed for 50 years by a federal court in 1977, following a lawsuit by King's associate and the SCLC. A January executive order issued by President Donald Trump directs the Justice Department to seek an early release of the records, although officials claim their focus is only on documents related to King's assassination. On June 4, Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia agreed to review the files before determining what will be released. "It's not going to happen overnight," Leon said. "The court is going to move very carefully." King's youngest daughter, Bernice, and son, Martin Luther King III, have asked the court not to release the documents, arguing that it would infringe on the family's privacy. The Kings also cite the botched release of John F. Kennedy files that revealed Social Security numbers, and point to the FBI's attempts to blackmail and smear King as evidence that a premature, unvetted disclosure could be harmful. Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, tells Reason that the issue of privacy can be easily rectified. "The FBI or whoever is releasing these files has an opportunity to both preserve the privacy of the surveillance target and also reveal any historically significant facts about FBI methodology just by redacting a lot of the intentionally embarrassing surveillance information," he said. Leon will be tasked with balancing the file's significance in American history against the privacy concerns of those who were illegally spied on. As Guariglia notes, the situation requires a nuanced approach: "Important historical documents should not be withheld and classified forever. That being said, I think motivation here is important." While the King family's concerns are valid, the primary issue remains that the government collected such material in the first place. The Kings' objections are "shortsighted," Patrick Eddington, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, tells Reason. "In an age where government surveillance and political repression has become all too commonplace, I think the release of these records showing the FBI's prurient surveillance of King and attempts to blackmail him into abandoning the civil rights cause would be a powerful reminder to Americans about why the FBI's domestic surveillance activities need to be sharply curtailed." The FBI's surveillance of Americans continues to this day, largely with the approval of policymakers. Despite multiple instances of illegal FBI surveillance, including monitoring protesters after the 2020 George Floyd riots and the January 6 Capitol riot, Congress extended Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 2024. This post-9/11 authority allows warrantless surveillance of foreigners abroad and the "incidental" collection of Americans' data. While the explicit targeting of Americans is prohibited, the 2024 renewal endorses nearly all warrantless searches of Section 702 data, inevitably capturing Americans' private conversations in the process. Unsealing the FBI's surveillance records on Dr. King would not violate his legacy—it would reaffirm the values he died fighting for: truth, accountability, and freedom from state repression. The release would be especially worthwhile if it leads to meaningful curbs on federal surveillance powers. The post Would Releasing the Martin Luther King Files Help Curb the Surveillance State? appeared first on
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Habeas corpus is line between democracy and tyranny. Trump is blurring that line
If you think you see a train coming down the tracks, it's best to assume it's a train. And right now, President Donald Trump and his inner circle are charging full speed toward stripping Americans their most basic constitutional rights – with working people, immigrants and communities of color tied to the rails. Multiple media outlets recently reported that President Donald Trump's Senior Advisor Stephen Miller has suggested the administration is 'actively looking at' suspending habeas corpus – a constitutional right dating back to the Magna Carta of 1215, designed to prevent unlawful detention. Miller's statement is not a political trial balloon. It is a direct threat to every community and person that has historically borne the brunt of unchecked state power; and now many millions more are at risk. Habeas Corpus: Can Trump administration suspend right to challenge detention? Habeas corpus – the right to appear before a judge when detained – was embedded in the U.S. Constitution in Article I, Section 9. It may only be suspended in times of 'rebellion or invasion.' We are not at war. This is not a rebellion. But Trump wants to give his agents the unchecked ability to round up whomever they want, whenever they want, without charges or court review. This isn't immigration policy. It's authoritarianism. The graves of young Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice can be found all over the globe. By rolling back our rights, we dishonor the men and women who have died for the freedom of, ultimately, all of us. Historically, suspensions of habeas corpus have come during national emergencies: Lincoln invoked it during the Civil War. Roosevelt used it to justify Japanese internment camps during World War II. Both decisions were later criticized for violating fundamental rights. But Trump's proposal comes without crisis or justification – only a desire to wield power without oversight. Let's be honest: we know who suffers when due process is stripped away. It's not the wealthy or well-connected. It's people in neighborhoods like the ones I grew up in – among Arab, Black, poor white and Hispanic families that have always been overpoliced, surveilled and scapegoated. In Detroit, we've lived through COINTELPRO, mass incarceration, and decades of militarized policing. Our communities don't need a history lesson – we've seen what happens when the government throws out the rulebook. More opinion: I joked about getting deported. In Trump's America, it's not funny. Conservative icon and retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig recently called Trump's casual disregard for the Constitution 'perhaps the most important words ever spoken by a president.' Trump said he doesn't know if he's obligated to uphold the Constitution. That's not a gaffe. That's a confession. Luttig warns this is 'constitutional denialism' – the belief that the Constitution doesn't apply if the president doesn't like how the courts interpret it. Just recently, Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, while testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, was asked by Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, to define habeas corpus, saying – incorrectly – "habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country." Under Trump's watch, ICE has detained people with legal status for nothing more than criticizing presidential policies and proposals. We've seen legal residents arrested at courthouses, workplaces, and even outside schools. Ask yourself: what happens if there's no court to turn to? No right to challenge your detention? That's not democracy. That's dictatorship. As a civil rights attorney, I've defended the wrongfully arrested, the unlawfully detained, and the politically targeted. I've seen how the courts can be both weapon and shield. And I know that the only thing more dangerous than unchecked police power is unchecked police power with no court review at all. More: Lawyer for U-M protester detained at airport after spring break trip with family I believe in the power of the Constitution – but only if we recognize and use that power. We cannot sit idly by while a president openly plots to suspend core legal protections. We cannot wait until our neighbors are gone and our rights are stripped before we raise our voices. The train is coming, and it won't stop on its own. Detroit has always been a city of resistance – against racism, against exploitation, against economic injustice and against authoritarianism. We know how to fight injustice because we've been doing it for generations. From labor strikes to civil rights marches to courtroom battles for justice, our strength is in our refusal to be silent. So no, suspending habeas corpus is not just some obscure legal issue. It's the line between democracy and tyranny. Between protest and prison. Between freedom and fear. And if they come for one of us without due process, they can come for all of us. We must defend habeas corpus – not just as lawyers, but as citizens, as neighbors and as people who know that our rights mean nothing if they don't protect the most vulnerable among us. Because if we don't fight back now, history will ask why we let it happen again. Amir Makled is managing partner of the Dearborn-based Hall Makled Law Firm. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Habeas corpus is what stands between democracy and tyranny | Opinion
