In an upset to privacy and anti-government surveillance advocates, an appellate court ruled Friday in favor of the National Security Agency’s telephone metadata program, overturning another federal judge’s ruling that the program was illegal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit determined there was insufficient evidence to uphold the previous court’s ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which barred the government from resuming its domestic metadata surveillance program under the Patriot Act and dubbed it illegal. In a 2–1 ruling, a three-judge panel kicked the case back to Judge Richard Leon in the U.S. District Court, who put an injunction on the program citing possible Fourth Amendment violations earlier this year, Reuters reported.
The decision comes after Congress amended a new law governing the NSA’s surveillance program in June. Congress passed the USA Freedom Act after Section 215 of the Patriot Act expired June 1. The new law undid the phone surveillance program as it was originally crafted but gave the government a 180-day grace period to continue the bulk surveillance while the NSA transitioned to a new system under which telephone companies keeps phone records and the agency accesses them after getting a court order.
Friday’s ruling also echoes that of the secret court , which oversees government spy agencies and their surveillance requests. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court also sided with Congress’ initial decision to allow the NSA to continue its controversial phone metadata collection program after it lapsed June 1.