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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
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal judge hints at early release of MLK Jr assassination files following Trump's order
The government's secret files on the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could be released ahead of schedule after a federal judge in Washington indicated he was open to doing so. In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, demanding the release of all government documents pertaining to the shootings of MLK, as well as both President John F Kennedy and his brother, Robert F Kennedy, in the 1960s. 'Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth,' Trump said in the order. 'It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay.' Dr King was shot dead on the second floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4 1968, with the official narrative remaining that the gunman was the petty criminal James Earl Ray, who hit him with a Remington rifle fired from the window of a rented room in a boarding house standing across the street. In 1977, a judge ordered the government to unseal all of the files it holds on the case and make them public in 2027. However, at Wednesday's hearing in Washington, Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia suggested he was prepared to bring the release date forward to comply with Trump's wishes, although he also emphasized the importance of sensitivity. Judge Leon said the first step would be for the National Archives and Records Administration to show him the complete inventory of files it has in its possession on the MLK assassination and the FBI investigation that followed, so as to establish the size of the processing task ahead. The hearing was prompted by a lawsuit filed by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization based in King's native Atlanta, Georgia, which seeks to halt the expedited release. Before the judge's ruling, Sumayya Saleh, a lawyer representing the conference, had argued that the push to publish the documents amounted to a 'deliberate effort to undermine the civil rights movement' and to 'discredit' MLK's legacy. Justice Department lawyer Johnny Walker proposed that officials from his agency be allowed to comb through the papers first and produce a subset that the justice and the conference could peruse before approving or challenging their release. Judge Leon ultimately determined that he should have the first look, describing the situation as 'the first few steps in a journey' that could take years and reminding both sides: 'This is delicate stuff.' 'Keep the lines of communication open,' he ordered the Justice Department and Southern Christian Leadership Conference, saying he would 'bless' any agreement between them to examine the files jointly. 'That's in everyone's interest, including the president's.' The King family has long contested that version of events, and the killing has been the subject of conspiracy theories ever since, with some suggesting a police sharpshooter really fired the fatal shot and others that Ray had accepted a $50,000 bounty put forward by segregationist groups to make the hit. 'The Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband… Mr Ray was set up to take the blame,' the deceased's widow, Coretta Scott King, said in 1999.
New York Times
05-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Judge Considers Early Release of Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination Documents
A federal judge in Washington said on Wednesday that he was open to lifting a court order ahead of schedule to release potentially sensitive documents related to the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., nodding to an executive order President Trump signed in January aimed at achieving that outcome. During a hearing on Wednesday to discuss the possibility, Judge Richard Leon of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia nonetheless cautioned that he intended to proceed slowly and prioritize privacy in an extended process to determine whether any documents should be released before 2027, the date that another judge set in 1977 for the documents to be unsealed. Judge Leon said he would start by ordering the National Archives to show him — and him alone — an inventory of all the sealed materials related to Dr. King that have been stored there. He said that the inventory, which the government says it has not reviewed, might help shed light on whether documents specifically related to Dr. King's assassination in 1968, and the investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that followed, had been separated out and could be efficiently processed. The hearing on Wednesday came through a lawsuit brought by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights organization based in Atlanta associated with Dr. King, which has sued to halt any effort to unseal documents early. It came in response to an executive order Mr. Trump signed in January that directed intelligence agencies to set in motion plans to release records related to the assassinations of Dr. King, President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Independent
04-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Judge weighs government's request to unseal records of FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr.
A federal judge is weighing a request from the Trump administration to unseal records of the FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr. — files that the civil rights leader's relatives want to keep under wraps in the national archives. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., said during a hearing on Wednesday that he wants to see an inventory of the records before deciding whether the government can review them for possible release to the public. 'This is delicate stuff,' Leon said. 'We're going to go slowly. Little steps.' Justice Department attorneys have asked Leon to end a sealing order for the records nearly two years ahead of its expiration date. A department attorney said the administration is only interested in releasing files related to King's assassination. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King led, is opposed to unsealing any of the records for privacy reasons. The organization's lawyers said King's relatives also want to keep the files under seal. In 1977, a court order directed the FBI to collect records about its surveillance and monitoring of King and turn them over to the National Archives and Records Administration. The order required the records to remain under seal for 50 years — until Jan. 31, 2027. In January, President Donald Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to review and publicly release documents about King's assassination 'because the American people have an interest in full transparency about this key historic event,' government lawyers wrote. 'To maximize this transparency objective, the records sealed in this case should be part of the Attorney General's review,' they added. SCLC attorneys said the FBI tried to discredit King and their organization by illegally wiretapping King's home, SCLC offices and hotel rooms where King met with other SCLC officials. Unsealing records of those recordings is contrary to the interests of SCLC, the King family and the public, the lawyers argued. 'Since its inception, this case has been about government overreach,' said SCLC attorney Sumayya Saleh. Justice Department attorney Johnny Walker said the administration has no intention of releasing any personal communications or privileged records contained in the files. 'Thankfully, I am not here to defend the allegations in the underlying complaint,' Walker told the judge. Nobody involved in the litigation knows what's in the archives and whether any of it relates to King's assassination. 'It could be easy. There could be nothing, and then we just all go away,' Walker said. 'It's not going to happen overnight,' the judge said. 'The court is going to move very carefully.' King was shot and killed on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1976, the SCLC and Bernard Lee, who was King's executive assistant at the organization, filed a lawsuit to challenge the legality of the FBI's surveillance. The 1977 court order required the FBI to compile records of its telephone wiretapping operations, between 1963 and 1968, at King's home and at the SCLC offices in Atlanta and New York. Bernice King, the civil rights leader's youngest daughter, said in a court filing that she hopes the files are permanently sealed or destroyed. 'It is unquestionable that my father was a private citizen, not an elected official, who enjoyed the right to privacy that should be afforded to all private citizens of this country,' she said. 'To not only be unjustifiably surveilled, but to have the purported surveillance files made public would be a travesty of justice.' Trump's Jan. 23 executive order also called for declassifying records about the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
Associated Press
04-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Judge weighs government's request to unseal records of FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is weighing a request from the Trump administration to unseal records of the FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr. — files that the civil rights leader's relatives want to keep under wraps in the national archives. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., said during a hearing on Wednesday that he wants to see an inventory of the records before deciding whether the government can review them for possible release to the public. 'This is delicate stuff,' Leon said. 'We're going to go slowly. Little steps.' Justice Department attorneys have asked Leon to end a sealing order for the records nearly two years ahead of its expiration date. A department attorney said the administration is only interested in releasing files related to King's assassination. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King led, is opposed to unsealing any of the records for privacy reasons. The organization's lawyers said King's relatives also want to keep the files under seal. In 1977, a court order directed the FBI to collect records about its surveillance and monitoring of King and turn them over to the National Archives and Records Administration. The order required the records to remain under seal for 50 years — until Jan. 31, 2027. In January, President Donald Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to review and publicly release documents about King's assassination 'because the American people have an interest in full transparency about this key historic event,' government lawyers wrote. 'To maximize this transparency objective, the records sealed in this case should be part of the Attorney General's review,' they added. SCLC attorneys said the FBI tried to discredit King and their organization by illegally wiretapping King's home, SCLC offices and hotel rooms where King met with other SCLC officials. Unsealing records of those recordings is contrary to the interests of SCLC, the King family and the public, the lawyers argued. 'Since its inception, this case has been about government overreach,' said SCLC attorney Sumayya Saleh. Justice Department attorney Johnny Walker said the administration has no intention of releasing any personal communications or privileged records contained in the files. 'Thankfully, I am not here to defend the allegations in the underlying complaint,' Walker told the judge. Nobody involved in the litigation knows what's in the archives and whether any of it relates to King's assassination. 'It could be easy. There could be nothing, and then we just all go away,' Walker said. 'It's not going to happen overnight,' the judge said. 'The court is going to move very carefully.' King was shot and killed on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1976, the SCLC and Bernard Lee, who was King's executive assistant at the organization, filed a lawsuit to challenge the legality of the FBI's surveillance. The 1977 court order required the FBI to compile records of its telephone wiretapping operations, between 1963 and 1968, at King's home and at the SCLC offices in Atlanta and New York. Bernice King, the civil rights leader's youngest daughter, said in a court filing that she hopes the files are permanently sealed or destroyed. 'It is unquestionable that my father was a private citizen, not an elected official, who enjoyed the right to privacy that should be afforded to all private citizens of this country,' she said. 'To not only be unjustifiably surveilled, but to have the purported surveillance files made public would be a travesty of justice.' Trump's Jan. 23 executive order also called for declassifying records about the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
