Reading Room Document

Constitutionality of Certain FBI Intelligence Bulletins

This opinion examines whether two FBI bulletins, regarding monitoring certain protests, violated the First Amendment or otherwise unconstitutionally blurred the distinction between lawful protest activity and illegal terrorist acts. The opinion concludes that the FBI's surveillance tactics are consistent with the First Amendment, since they neither restrict nor chill the message or expressive conduct of the protestors. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at https://justice.gov/olc/docs/memo-fbi-bulletins.pdf.

April 5, 2004