Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On May 7, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sided with the American Civil Liberties Union, holding that the National Security Agency’s (“NSA’s”) collection of metadata relating to domestic phone records is not permitted under the PATRIOT Act. This ruling overturns a December 2013 Southern District of New York decision finding that the NSA’s telephone data collection program is lawful under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. The Second Circuit did not issue a preliminary injunction to stop the program or address questions as to whether the program is constitutional under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The case will now return to the Southern District of New York for further proceedings.