Court Opinion

ID: 9458441
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:51:58.590209+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:45.813885
License: Public Domain

ORDER ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
On June 6, 1972, plaintiffs-appellants filed a timely Petition for Rehearing to Modify Opinion to Stay Rather Than Dismiss Proceedings, in which they persuasively suggested that the principle of comity, which underlay our decision, made it appropriate to defer final action in this litigation until after the Supreme Court rendered its opinion in Laird v. Tatum. Petitioners suggested that a reversal of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia would not necessarily be dispositive of this litigation. Recognizing possible merit in this suggestion, we withheld action on the petition pending the Supreme Court decision which was announced on June 26, 1972. 408 U.S. 1, 92 S.Ct. 2318, 33 L.Ed.2d 154.
Petitioners advance four points of distinction between this case and Tatum-. (1) the Tatum plaintiffs were not actually “aggrieved,” whereas these plaintiffs alleged and testified that.they had been harmed; (2) Tatum involved only the collection of public information, whereas this case involves surveillance of private conduct as well; (3) whereas Tatum merely involved a plan to disseminate information outside the military, this case involves proof of such dissemination; and (4) this case primarily involves this region, whereas Tatum involved the entire country.
The rationale of the opinion of the Supreme Court is fairly applicable to regional as well as national activities; moreover, the opinion contains several references to the exchange of information between military and non-military sources. The third and fourth points must therefore be rejected. The other two points are not, however, explicitly covered by the opinion of the majority. We are nevertheless persuaded that they were implicitly rejected by the Court.
Basically, the harm to the plaintiffs-appellants about which they testified was the fact that some of them had been the targets of military surveillance. The dissenting opinions in Tatum indicate that similar harm was disclosed by that record.1 Necessarily, therefore, the *503Court held that such harm was not actionable.
How much “private” information about the Tatum plaintiffs had been collected is by no means clear. Mr. Justice Douglas stated that “the Army’s surveillance was not collecting material in public records but staking-out teams of agents, infiltrating undercover agents, creating command posts inside meetings, posing as press photographers and newsmen, posing as TV newsmen, posing as students, shadowing public figures.” 92 S.Ct. at 2332. We have again reviewed the record in the case before us. Although there is evidence of “covert” activity that should not be condoned, we are persuaded that neither that evidence nor the allegations in the complaint set forth a valid basis for distinguishing Tatum. Accordingly, we adhere to our original opinion that a Supreme Court holding that the allegations of the Tatum complaint may not be tried is dispositive of this case as well.
The petition for rehearing is denied.

. Mr. Justice Douglas states: “Respondents were, targets of the Army’s surveillance.” 92 S.Ct. at 2332. Mr. Justice Brennan quotes the following from Judge Wilkey’s opinion:
“The record shows that most if not all of the [respondents] and/or the organizations of which they are members have been the subject of Army surveillance reports and their names have appeared in the Army’s records.” 92 S.Ct. at 2338.