Compliance Management, Privacy

Court overturns judge’s decision, sides with NSA’s phone metadata collection

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a judge's ruling on Friday, ultimately siding with the NSA's phone metadata collection program, The Washington Times reported.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon released a ruling in December 2013 regarding lawsuits presented by public-interest lawyer Larry Klayman and Charles Strange. Leon sided with the plaintiffs and issued a preliminary injunction, stating that bulk collection of telephone records violates the privacy rights of Americans.

According to the Friday ruling by a three-judge panel, the preliminary injunction was struck down and the case remanded essentially because the plaintiffs did not have enough proof that their metadata is involved. Additionally, they were said to have not demonstrated as “suffering any cognizable injury.”

In April 2014 Klayman decided to bypass the federal appellate court and petition before the U.S. Supreme Court instead, but he was unsuccessful.

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