Judge issues narrow ruling in challenge to USA Patriot Act

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge 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 month’s end.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon this week 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.