HUFFINGTON POST: A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency’s phone record surveillance program is likely unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon said that the agency’s controversial program, first revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden earlier this year, appears to violate the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures. The program collects records of the time and phone numbers involved in every phone call made in the U.S., and allows that database to be queried for connections to suspected terrorists.
“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” wrote Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, in the ruling… (more)
