ACLU Demands FBI Rewrite Spying Guidelines in Light of Reports of Spying on Civil Rights Leader Coretta Scott King (8/31/2007)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union today issued
a call to change FBI spying guidelines after documents were released revealing
that the FBI spied on Coretta Scott King, after the death of her husband Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in an attempt to stem the civil rights movement.
After the government was criticized for spying on Dr. King, the FBI was
prohibited from spying on Americans. But in 2002 former Attorney General John
Ashcroft changed the guidelines to permit the FBI to spy on individuals in
public places.
The ACLU has issued two reports condemning FBI spying: the
first in 2002 specifically about Dr. Martin Luther King, and another published
this year titled “History Repeated: The Dangers of Domestic Spying by Federal
Law Enforcement,” both by ACLU Legislative Counsel Marvin Johnson.
The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson,
director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:
“The government’s spying on Coretta Scott King is despicable,
but it unfortunately isn’t a surprise. When government agencies are given free
rein to spy on Americans, they will inevitably use their power to suppress free
speech for political reasons instead of averting real threats. We can’t trust
the government to have this much power over our lives, and the FBI’s guidelines
for spying must be rewritten with our freedom in mind. Political thought and
freedom of speech can’t flourish with the government hovering over
us.”
The 2007 ACLU report “History Repeated: The
Dangers of Domestic Spying By Law Enforcement” can be found online at:
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/29902pub20070529.html
The 2002 ACLU report “The Dangers of
Domestic Spying by Federal Law Enforcement: A Case Study on FBI Surveillance of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” can be found online at:
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/resources/17039pub20020317.html
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