Laird v. Tatum

After federal troops helped quell civil unrest in Detroit following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, the Army (defendant) grew concerned about being prepared for similar future situations and set up a data-gathering program tracking civilian activities that might lead to civil disorder, drawing mainly on news media and other public sources, and sharing that information across army posts. A group of individuals (plaintiffs) engaged in lawful, peaceful civilian activity brought a class action for declaratory and injunctive relief, claiming the mere existence of this surveillance program chilled their First Amendment rights.