Groups to fight NSA spying in court

A privacy rights group has filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court on Monday asking it to stop the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program that collects the telephone records of millions of Americans.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to vacate an order permitting the National Security Agency access to any domestic phone records. EPIC has gone to the Supreme Court because the order was issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA, which is beyond the jurisdiction of the lower federal courts.

EPIC said in the petition that the order – directed to Verizon – is overreaching. “It is simply not possible that every phone record in the possession of a telecommunications firm could be relevant to an authorized investigation,” said EPIC.

EPIC’s action follows that of the American Civil Liberties Union which in early June announced that it was directly suing the NSA. “According to the ACLU,” said The Hill, “the lawsuit will argue the program violates the group's First Amendment rights of free speech and association, as well as Fourth Amendment safeguards against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

A statement from the ACLU deputy legal director, Jameel Jaffer, put the NSA action quite succinctly: “It is the equivalent of requiring every American to file a daily report with the government of every location they visited, every person they talked to on the phone, the time of each call, and the length of every conversation.”

While the administration and many in Congress have defended the NSA program on national security grounds, it is also seen by many as excessively intrusive regardless of its intent.

Privacy Group to Ask Supreme Court to Stop N.S.A.’s Phone Spying Program (NY Times, Jul. 8, 2013)

EPIC Files Supreme Court Petition, Challenges Domestic Surveillance Program (EPIC, Jul. 8, 2013)

ACLU to sue NSA over phone spying (The Hill, Jun. 11, 2013)