NSA phone data collection unlawful, says US appeal court

Yesterday’s decision was the latest episode in a long-standing challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to the tracking of phone calls by security agencies in the US, which the group says is unconstitutional.

Judge William Pauley in the southern district of New York originally ruled against ACLU in 2013, but his ruling was overturned in the appeal court yesterday by circuit judges Robert Sack and Gerard Lynch and district judge Vernon Broderick.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden (pictured) is credited by ACLU and civil rights campaigners with raising awareness of surveillance in the United States.

The court’s 97-page ruling states that “a provision of the USA Patriot Act permitting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to collect business records deemed relevant to a counterterrorism investigation cannot be legitimately interpreted to permit the systematic bulk collection of domestic calling records”.

However, it does not rule on whether the telephone metadata programme is unconstitutional.

The US government could still appeal to the Supreme Court over the legality of the programme, which was introduced as part of the Patriot Act shortly after 9/11.

Ned Price, assistant press secretary at the White House, told the Guardian that the US government is “in the process of evaluating the decision”.

He added: “Without commenting on the ruling today, the president has been clear that he believes we should end the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program as it currently exists by creating an alternative mechanism to preserve the program’s essential capabilities without the government holding the bulk data.

“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.”