[Infowarrior] - ACLU appeals Pauley ruling on NSA call-tracking

[Richard Forno]

 ACLU Appeals Dismissal of Lawsuit Challenging NSA Call-Tracking Program
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January 2, 2014

https://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-appeals-dismissal-lawsuit-challenging-nsa-call-tracking-program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media at aclu.org

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil
Liberties Union today filed a notice of appeal in their federal lawsuit
challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s mass call-tracking
program. Last Friday, the district court dismissed the case, ACLU v.
Clapper, ruling that the program was constitutional and did not exceed
the authority provided in the Patriot Act.

"We believe that the NSA’s call-tracking program violates both statutory
law and the Constitution, and we look forward to making our case in the
appeals court," said ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer, one of
the two ACLU attorneys who argued the case in November.

"The government has a legitimate interest in tracking the associations
of suspected terrorists, but tracking those associations does not
require the government to subject every citizen to permanent
surveillance. Further, as the president’s own review panel recently
observed, there’s no evidence that this dragnet program was essential to
preventing any terrorist attack. We categorically reject the notion that
the threat of terrorism requires citizens of democratic countries to
surrender the freedoms that make democracies worth defending."

The ACLU anticipates that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals will set
an expedited briefing schedule and that it will hear oral argument in
the spring.

Last week’s ruling by U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III
conflicted with the December 16 decision in a similar lawsuit in
Washington, Klayman v. Obama, in which U.S. District Judge Richard J.
Leon found the NSA program to be likely unconstitutional. The Justice
Department has 60 days to file an appeal. A federal court in San
Francisco is currently considering a third case, First Unitarian Church
of Los Angeles v. NSA, filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The ACLU is a customer of Verizon Business Network Services, which, as
revealed in The Guardian, received a secret order from the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court compelling the company to turn over "on
an ongoing daily basis" phone call details such as whom calls are placed
to and from, and when those calls are made. The lawsuit argues that the
government’s blanket seizure of the ACLU’s phone records compromises the
organization’s ability to carry out its work and to engage in legitimate
communications with clients, journalists, advocacy partners,
whistleblowers, and others.

Today’s appeal is available at:
aclu.org/national-security/aclu-v-clapper-notice-appeal

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