The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday filed papers saying it plans to appeal a recent court ruling that found the National Security Agency’s controversial telephone data-collection program is legal.
The ACLU is appealing Manhattan federal Judge William Pauley III’s ruling last week that program is constitutional to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
“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.
In dismissing the suit, Pauley said the program “represents the government’s counter-punch” to “eliminate al-Qaida’s terror network.” He also noted that it could have helped the feds prevent the 9/11 terrorist attacks, adding “there is no evidence that the government has used any” of the metadata it had collected for any reason “other than to investigate and disrupt terrorist attacks.”
His decision stands in stark contrast to a Dec. 16 ruling by Washington, DC, federal court Judge Richard Leon on a separate lawsuit filed by conservative activist Larry Klayman.
Leon said the NSA’s huge data dragnet — which was first revealed by leaker Edward Snowden — is an “almost Orwellian” program and likely unconstitutional.