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The National Security Agency's practice of collecting data about Americans' telephone calls in bulk goes beyond what Congress intended when it wrote Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, 

a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday

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.

One of the big reasons it is hard to discern congressional intent in this case, the court wrote, is that the bulk collection program has been shrouded in secrecy. So it cannot "reasonably be said" that Congress OK'd "a program of which many members of Congress — and all members of the public — were not aware."

The court concludes that it has no qualms about taking this step because if Congress wants to "authorize such a far‐reaching and unprecedented program, it has every opportunity to do so, and to do so unambiguously."

, this is "the first time a higher-level court in the regular judicial system has reviewed the program, which since 2006 has repeatedly been approved in secret by a national security court."


The NSA's collection of phone metadata came back into the spotlight after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents that shed light on the scope of the program.

 a secret court ruling that ordered Verizon to hand over the telephone metadata

 of all its customers. Metadata does not mean the content of calls. Instead it means things like time, phone numbers and duration of calls.


The panel has vacated a lower court's decision to dismiss the case and has sent it back for further review. The panel also refused to order a preliminary end to the program, saying Congress is currently debating the NSA's bulk collection program.

"We deem it prudent to pause to allow an opportunity for debate in Congress that may (or may not) profoundly alter the legal landscape," the panel wrote.

Update at 11:47 a.m. ET. Obama Believes Bulk Collection Should End:

Without specifically commenting on the court's ruling, Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said President Obama has already expressed a preference for ending the bulk collection of metadata as it exists today.

 back in January 2014, Obama said he would prefer that the government not keep a massive database of Americans' telephone data. Instead, the data could live elsewhere and the U.S. government could query the information based on each investigation.


"We continue to work closely with members of Congress from both parties to do just that and we have been encouraged by good progress on bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would implement these important reforms," Price said in a statement.

Update at 11:44 a.m. ET. 'Resounding Victory For The Rule Of Law':

"This decision is a resounding victory for the rule of law," ACLU Staff Attorney Alex Abdo, who argued the case before the three-judge panel last September, said in a statement. "For years, the government secretly spied on millions of innocent Americans based on a shockingly broad interpretation of its authority. The court rightly rejected the government's theory that it may stockpile information on all of us in case that information proves useful in the future. Mass surveillance does not make us any safer, and it is fundamentally incompatible with the privacy necessary in a free society."

The ACLU also urged Congress to "up its reform game" to align itself with the concerns raised by the 2nd Circuit.

Update at 10:21 a.m. ET. 'Preceded By Substantial Debate':

The panel argued that when Congress passed the Patriot Act, it could not have understood the sweeping nature of the program. The panel explains:

Update at 9:57 a.m. ET. Echoes Some Members Of Congress: 

NPR's David Welna, who covers national security for the network, tells us the ruling echoes what some members of Congress have been saying. David reports:

Science

Politics and Government News

The court said Congress did not intend to give the National Security Agency the authority to collect data about Americans phone records in bulk.

Federal court: Bulk collection of phone metadata is illegal

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