Appeals court takes on NSA surveillance case
Headline Legal News
A conservative gadfly lawyer who has made a career of skewering Democratic administrations is taking his battle against the National Security Agency's telephone surveillance program to a federal appeals court.
Activist attorney Larry Klayman won the first round in December, when U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a Republican appointee, ruled that the NSA's surveillance program likely runs afoul of the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches. The government appealed.
In court filings in preparation for Tuesday's argument, the Justice Department told three Republican-nominated appeals judges that collecting the phone data is of overriding and compelling importance to the nation's security.
Former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden revealed the phone data collection effort a year and a half ago, triggering a debate over privacy rights and surveillance.
In New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit recently heard arguments in an appeal of a judge's opinion that found the surveillance program legal.
The three appeals judges in the Washington case have generally come down on the government's side on national security issues.
Related listings
-
Appeals court reinstates Texas voter ID law
Headline Legal News 10/20/2014A federal appeals court on Tuesday temporarily reinstated Texas' tough voter ID law, which the U.S. Justice Department had condemned as the state's latest means of suppressing minority voter turnout. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the New Orlea...
-
Court agrees to review Alaska Roadless Rule case
Headline Legal News 09/02/2014A full federal appeals court will review the decision allowing Alaska's Tongass National Forest to be exempt from federal restrictions on road-building and timber harvests in "roadless" areas." The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday announce...
-
Washington high court to hear charter school case
Headline Legal News 08/19/2014The Washington Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the state's voter-approved charter school law violates the state constitution. Oral arguments concerning the lawsuit brought by charter school opponents have been scheduled for the afternoon...