WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge in Washington says the National Security Agency's bulk collection of telephone data on hundreds of millions of Americans is likely unconstitutional, even as the program is set to expire at the end of November.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon on Monday ordered the NSA to stop collecting metadata from any phone calls from a Verizon Business Network Services landline belonging to plaintiff J.J. Little and his law firm. But the judge's prohibition does not extend to any other Verizon customers.
Conservative legal activist Larry Klayman first filed the challenge the USA Patriot Act in 2013. Leon previously said the bulk collection of phone records is likely unconstitutional. But the government successfully challenged whether Klayman could prove his cell phone had been monitored by the secret program.
Published: Wed, Nov 11, 2015
