US Federal Court rules NSA surveillance Illegal

Sputnik
Thu, 07 May 2015 23:02 UTC

© AP Photo/ Patrick Semansky

The Second US Circuit Court of Appeals said a lower court judge erred in dismissing a lawsuit challenging the program's constitutionality.

A US appeals court ruled Thursday that the National Security Agency's program that collected phone records of Americans is illegal, saying it exceeds the scope of what Congress authorized.

The case hinges on revelations from a leak of NSA documents by Edward Snowden that exposed the bulk collection of information domestically by the agency.

The decision is here http://t.co/o5huFCSZeS - it's a clear and categorical decree that NSA program has no legal authority.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 7, 2015

Glenn Greenwald, one of the investigative journalists responsible for bringing Snowden's information to light, indicated: the ruling should mean that Snowden is absolved of criminal charges for being a whistleblower.

Here's the part that really did the #NSA program in: Gov't can't show data were for a particular investigation. pic.twitter.com/WHNfqd4Gd9

— Brad Heath (@bradheath) May 7, 2015

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals said that the laws used as a basis for the bulk data collection "have never been interpreted to authorize anything approaching the breadth of the sweeping surveillance at issue here."

James Clapper lied and denied the existence of a program which a US appeals court said was illegal. Anyone arguing he should keep his job?

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 7, 2015

Comment: The GOP must be having fits right about now.