Reading Room Document

Constitutionality of Closing the Palestine Information Office, an Affiliate of the Palestine Liberation Organization

The federal government may, without violating the First Amendment or the Bill of Attainder Clause of the Constitution, order the Palestine Information Office in Washington to close. The political branches have broad authority to control the flow of funds into the United States, and may prevent all commerce between foreign and domestic entities, or cut off the supply of all noninformational material from a foreign country to a domestic entity. Furthermore, neither foreign political entities, nor domestic organizations and individuals to the extent they profess an identity with such entities, have constitutional rights under the First Amendment. The First Amendment also permits restrictions on the speech and association rights of domestic organizations and individuals when they act pursuant to the direction and control of a foreign entity. The same restrictions on the expressive activities of domestic organizations and individuals are not permitted, however, outside the scope of such a relationship. 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 www.justice.gov/file/23981/download.

August 14, 1987