Judge Blocks NSA Spying and Sets an Important Precedent
Ten years late but I’ll take it.
In his new ruling released this week, Leon asserted that the government’s Constitutional violation was so egregious that it could not be allowed to stand another day.
“Although this court appreciates the zealousness with which the government seeks to protect the citizens of our nation, that same government bears just as great a responsibility to protect the individual liberties of those very citizens,” Leon wrote.
Federal judges have so far been divided on the constitutionality of the phone records collection program. Three judges have ruled it constitutional, while Leon stands alone at ruling it unconstitutional. Although the other ruling by the Second Circuit Court last May found that the program was illegal, the circuit judges did not rule on its constitutionality. Instead their ruling was based on whether the Patriot Act contained language that authorized the government to conduct the mass spying operation. They found that it did not.
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