On October 29, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the oral argument in “ James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence and others v. Amnesty International, USA and others”—a case about whether groups and individuals have the right to go to court to challenge the federal government’s secret monitoring of global communications in search of terrorist threats.
And Saturday, September 8 on C-SPAN Radio’s Historic Supreme Court oral argument, a case cited in “Clapper v. Amnesty International.” From 1972: “Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, and others, petitioners. v. Arlo Tatum, executive secretary of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and others, respondents.”
In response to the U.S. Army's experience in the civil disorders it was called upon to help control during 1967 and 1968, Army intelligence established a data-gathering system, which the respondents in “Laird v. Tatum” described as involving the "surveillance of lawful civilian political activity." The respondents claimed that their First Amendment rights were harmed, due to the mere existence of the Army’s data-gathering system.
Listen to the courtroom recording of the oral argument in the 1972 case "Laird v. Tatum”--Saturday, September 8 at 6 pm ET on C-SPAN Radio: 90.1 FM in the Washington, DC area, online at cspanradio.org and nationwide on XM Satellite Radio, channel 119. The audio and information in this program are courtesy of the Oyez project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law at: http://www.oyez.org/