- The US court of appeals has ruled that the bulk collection of telephone metadata is unlawful, in a landmark decision that clears the way for a full legal challenge against the National Security Agency.
- “We conclude that to allow the government to collect phone records only because they may become relevant to a possible authorized investigation in the future fails even the permissive ‘relevance’ test.
- “We agree with appellants that the government’s argument is ‘irreconcilable with the statute’s plain text’.”
Thank you Edward Snowden.
But they didn't rule on the constitutionality. From NPR:
- The three-judge panel was asked to consider whether the program violated the Constitution. Instead, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel punted on the constitutional claim, deciding the program was simply not authorized by federal law.
Hopefully this does not merely result in our Congress explicitly authorizing this searching and seizure of records. If so, hopefully the right ruling will come down from the courts on the constitutionality of this.
If the ruling does hold up, then Snowden should get a pardon, and be allowed to return to the US without prosecution. It is clear that he is a whistleblower than uncovered illegal activities, and that if he didn't take the approach that he did, we would never know.
Agreed. But there is plenty of lame sauce floating around: :|The judges opted not to end the domestic bulk collection while Congress decides its fate, calling judicial inaction “a lesser intrusion” on privacy than at the time the case was initially argued.