Reading Room Document

Use of Mail Covers in FBI Investigations Under the Foreign Intelligence and Foreign Counter-Intelligence Guidelines

This document discusses a constitutional challenge to the use of mail covers in cases being investigated by the FBI under the Foreign Intelligence and Foreign Counter-Intelligence guidelines. The plaintiff, Lori Paton, sued the FBI in 1973 seeking damages for injuries caused by the interception of a letter she had written to the Socialist Workers Party. The District Judge Whipple's opinion on remand declared the regulation unconstitutional on its face, concluding that it infringed on political associational freedoms protected by the First Amendment. The document raises questions about the constitutionality of the mail cover regulation and its application, as well as the implications for the continued use of mail covers under the existing FBI guidelines.

December 15, 1978