Despite new laws passed by Congress and signed by President Obama to end the NSA’s bulk surveillance of American phone records, a FISA judge ruled the NSA program can continue for 180 more days.
Patrick Semansky / AP
WASHINGTON — A federal court Monday approved the temporary resumption of the National Security Agency's controversial bulk telephone data collection program, despite the fact Congress and President Obama have technically made such collections illegal.
Under pressure from civil liberties groups Congress outlawed the bulk data collection earlier this year as part of its reauthorization of the Patriot Act. And while the administration has indicated it agrees with barring the program, Congress provided them with an additional 180 days to collect the data, even after the program had been rendered illegal.
In his decision, FISA Court Judge Micahel Mosman notes, "this application presents the question whether the recently-enacted [law] … ended the bulk collection of telephone metadata. The short answer is yes. But in doing so, Congress deliberately carved out a 180-day period following enactment in which such collection was specifically authorized."
Mosman seems keenly aware of the odd situation in which he finds himself, wryly opening his order with Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr's famous quote "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose." "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
Significantly, Mosman also approved a motion by FreedomWorks to become an amici curiae party to the motion, marking the first time the normally secretive FISA court has allowed an outside group to play a role in the process of reviewing data collection requests.
The language authorizing the court to appoint FreedomWorks as an amici curiae is part of a set of transparency rules included in the bill by Sen. Ron Wyden and other proponents of reforming the law.
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