Report: Potential Impacts of Second Circuit's Ruling Against NSA Bulk Collection

Following last Thursday's federal appeals court decision, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued a legal sidebar on the possible impacts of this Second Circuit ruling against bulk collection on USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization:

On May 7, 2015, a federal appeals court issued a decision in American Civil Liberties Union v. Clapper that could have significant implications for both the telephone metadata collection program operated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the legislative debate surrounding consideration of the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 (H.R. 2048 S. 1123) currently taking place in the House and the Senate. While the ruling did not reach the question of whether the collection itself was a violation of the Fourth Amendment, the court did reject the government's use of Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (as amended) to effectuate the bulk collection of telephone records by the NSA.

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