TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Jul 22, 2025

The Trump administration on Monday released over 240,000 pages of FBI surveillance records on Martin Luther King Jr., despite opposition from his family and civil rights groups who called for empathy and historical context in reviewing them. King’s two living children, Martin III and Bernice, reiterated in a statement their belief that James Earl Ray was not solely responsible for their father's assassination and emphasized the FBI’s efforts under J. Edgar Hoover to discredit King and the Civil Rights Movement. While the release was framed by officials as a step toward transparency, critics — including civil rights leaders — view it as a political distraction. The files, which were intended to be sealed until 2027 and were unsealed early by court order, are expected to offer researchers new material, though it remains unclear whether they will shed significant new light on King’s life, work or death. The Associated Press has the story.