AndreyPopov/iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit heard arguments Tuesday both for and against the National Security Agency’s vast call tracking program, which came to light following leaked intelligence by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The suit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued that the government is overreaching by deeming that every American’s phone record is somehow relevant to the fight against terrorism.
Justices on the court appeared to side with that contention as Judge Gerard Lynch alleged that the government seems to be saying that “nobody’s got any constitutional privacy rights in anything anymore.”
Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Stuart Delery argued that collecting private information about nearly American is crucial because “going in, the government doesn’t know which of the metadata might reveal an important connection to an identified terrorist.”
It’s not clear when the appeals court will make a ruling on the suit as Congress is also addressing the matter of overreach by U.S. spy agencies.
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