Courtesy of Mish.
December 16 Ruling vs. Ruling Today
On December 16, in a rare victory for constitutional freedoms, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, ruled NSA phone program likely unconstitutional. (See District Court Judge Rules NSA Phone Taps Likely Unconstitutional; 68 Page Ruling Cites “Orwellian Technology” and Unreasonable Searches).
In contrast, a Manhattan District judge ruled today NSA Phone Surveillance Is Legal
U.S. District Judge WIlliam H. Pauley III in Manhattan sided with the government in his decision Friday, calling the collection program a “vital tool” to combat terrorism and deeming it “the Government’s counter-punch.”
The ruling stands in conflict with a decision issued earlier this month in a separate case by a federal judge in the District of Columbia who said the program “almost certainly” violated the Constitution.
The New York case was brought in June by the American Civil Liberties Union, which claimed that the NSA was violating the group’s constitutional rights by collecting metadata from the ACLU’s phone calls. It was among the first big legal challenges against the NSA program after it was disclosed in June.
The group sought a court order declaring that the mass call logging violated federal law governing foreign intelligence surveillance as well as constitutional free speech and search-and-seizure protections.
Judge Pauley disagreed. “The right to be free from searches and seizures is fundamental, but not absolute,” he wrote.
Case Likely Headed for Supreme Court
The Guardian comments on today’s NSA Phone Ruling.
A legal battle over the scope of US government surveillance took a turn in favour of the National Security Agency on Friday with a court opinion declaring that bulk collection of telephone data does not violate the constitution.
Friday’s ruling makes it more likely that the issue will be settled by the US supreme court, although it may be overtaken by the decision of Barack Obama on whether to accept the recommendations of a White House review panel to ban the NSA from directly collecting such data.
But the ruling from Judge William Pauley, a Clinton appointee to the Southern District of New York, will provide important ammunition for those within the intelligence community urging Obama to maintain the programme.
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