The US court of appeals has ruled that the bulk collection of telephone metadata is unlawful, in a landmark decision that clears that way for a full legal challenge against the National Security Agency.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals said a lower court judge erred in dismissing a lawsuit challenging the program’s constitutionality, and returned the case to the judge for further proceedings. It also upheld the denial of a preliminary injunction to block the collection of phone records under the program.
Thursday’s decision vacated a December 2013 dismissal of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit contending that the NSA’s collection of “bulk telephony metadata” violated the bar against warrantless searches under the Fourth Amendment.
