In a bit of good news a federal judge has ruled that the NSA’s collection of phonecall metadata violates the fourth amendent. This is by no means the end of the story. The ruling is at the District Court level and is sure to be appealed. Even the ruling was less than definitive. The judge wrote that the collection “quite likely violates the fourth amendment.”
Still, the judge found little evidence that the program was effective and completely dismissed the government’s contention that those filing had no standing. The standing issue is important because previous challenges to the program have been dismissed on the grounds that the complainants couldn’t prove they were being harmed. As a result of the Snowden revelations, it’s now clear that every American with a phone has standing so the issue will be heard on its merits rather than a hyperlegal technical argument.
It’s not as good as the Supreme Court dropping the hammer on this nonsense but it’s a start. The ruling addresses the weak points of the program: constitutionality, standing, and effectiveness. This can’t be letting the NSA mandarins sleep well.