1976 September 15

ACLU Sues Memphis over Destroyed Police Spying Files

 

The ACLU on this day filed suit against the City of Memphis, Tennessee, over the case of 180 police intelligence files that were reportedly destroyed by burning.

The burning came to light the previous week when it was reported that the chief of police had burned one file rather than show it to Eric Carter, former Regional Director of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, who believed he had been spied upon. Carter had requested the file under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The ACLU had sought a restraining order to prevent further files from being burned, but was exactly one hour late. The mayor of Memphis had just met with top police officials and ordered all the files burned and the police department’s Domestic Intelligence Unit be disbanded.

The ACLU was founded on January 19, 1920. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was signed into law on July 4, 1966.

Learn more about state and local police spying from the ACLU here.

Read the outstanding new book: Michael Schudson, The Rise of the Right to Know: Politics and the Culture of Transparency, 1945-1975 (2015)

Read: Samuel Walker, In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU (1990)

Read the ACLU FBI File (not the complete file): http://vault.fbi.gov/ACLU

Learn about the ACLU today: www.aclu.org

Find a Day

Go
Abortion Rights ACLU african-americans Alice Paul anti-communism Anti-Communist Hysteria Birth Control Brown v. Board of Education Censorship CIA Civil Rights Civil Rights Act of 1964 Cold War Espionage Act FBI First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment freedom of speech Free Speech Gay Rights Hate Speech homosexuality Hoover, J. Edgar HUAC Japanese American Internment King, Dr. Martin Luther Ku Klux Klan Labor Unions Lesbian and Gay Rights Loyalty Oaths McCarthy, Sen. Joe New York Times Obscenity Police Misconduct Same-Sex Marriage Separation of Church and State Sex Discrimination Smith Act Spying Spying on Americans Vietnam War Voting Rights Voting Rights Act of 1965 War on Terror Watergate White House Women's Rights Women's Suffrage World War I World War II Relocation Camps

Topics

Tell Us What You Think

We want to hear your comments, criticisms and suggestions!