Birnbaum v. United States

436 F.Supp. 967 (E.D. N.Y. 1977)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The CIA and the FBI covertly opened mail of American citizens. From approximately 1953 until 1973 in violation of federal statutes and the Fourth Amendment, the CIA conducted an extensive program of opening first-class mail passing in and out of the country through Hawaii, San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York. The mail that was targeted was opened photographed and then resealed. Over 215,000 letters were opened and photographed. Eventually 1.5 million names were gathered and placed in computer files. The limited question before this court was whether and how reparations can be made to individuals who were personally affected by this activity. Birnbaum (P) was a professor at Amherst College. In 1970, he wrote letters to two colleagues, one in Canada and the other in Rumania about an upcoming meeting of specialists in the sociology of religion. Copies of those letters were sent to a colleague at Moscow State University. The contents of the third letter were copied. MacMillen (P1) wrote a personal letter in 1973 to a Soviet dissident she had met on a trip to Russia. It was copied. Avery (P2) had a letter written to him by his son when his son was an exchange student at Moscow State University. That letter was copied. None of the Ps were aware that their mail had been interfered with until Freedom of Information Act requests had been made. The government admits to the facts and does not contend that the activity was lawful. Both the First and Fourth Amendments along with statutes and regulations support the contention that the activity was in fact illegal. Ps sued for a civil remedy.