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In an opinion released on Friday, the secret court that authorizes NSA surveillance ordered certain decisions be declassified in order to "contribute to an informed debate." Which makes it all but official: everyone agrees the Edward Snowden leaks were useful.

The court — officially, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court — released its decision in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU. They pertain to Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the section of the legislation used to authorize the bulk collection of telephone metadata records. That collection was one of the first Snowden revelations in early June, and has subsequently come under heavy attack on Capitol Hill. The FISC gave the government until October 4 to release (after redactions) a large subset of the court's decisions related to the records collection.

But it's the rationale the court offered that's interesting.

The unauthorized disclosure in June 2013 of a Section 215 order, and government statements in response to that disclosure, have engendered considerable public interest and debate about Section 215. Publication of FISC opinions relating to this provision would contribute to an informed debate.

In other words: This is a debate worth having. And so the court joins a growing list of perhaps-unexpected parties that have expressed appreciation for the debate that Snowden kicked off.