Judge Rules NSA Phone Surveillance Likely Unconstitutional

A federal judge ruled today that the National Security Agency's surveillance of most phone calls made in the United States or to the United States is likely unconstitutional, Politico reports: "U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the so-called metadata had helped to head off terrorist attacks."

Politico further reports: "Leon’s 68-page ruling is the first significant legal setback for the NSA’s surveillance program since it was disclosed in June in news stories based on leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The metadata program has been approved repeatedly by numerous judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and at least one judge sitting in a criminal case."

The judge granted a preliminary injunction but promptly stayed it to allow for an appeal.