The Washington Post reports U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, citing the “almost Orwellian technology” used by the NSA, ruled that the government had failed to justify its case for the “indiscriminate” collection and retention of personal information. The ruling addressed government collection of metadata on American's phone calls. This metadata includes the time and length of calls, as well as the numbers dialed. The Judge called the government programs a violation of privacy granted under the Fourth Amendment and granted an injunction against further NSA collection but he simultaneously stayed his order to allow for a government appeal. Seeking comments from a number of legal authorities, the Post reported reaction from the ACLU, “which has also sued the government over the program’s constitutionality:”
“It will be very difficult for the administration to argue that the NSA’s call-tracking program should continue when a federal judge has found it to be unconstitutional,” said Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has also sued the government over the program’s constitutionality.