Judge: Rights of 'tens of millions violated' by NSA phone data program

Kevin Johnson | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — A federal judge, whose ruling against the National Security Agency's bulk collection of telephone data was overturned by an appeals court last week, maintained Wednesday that he believed the surveillance program violated the constitutional rights of "tens of millions of people every single day."

With the case back in his court, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon urged conservative activist Larry Klayman to amend his challenge to the NSA program, suggesting that he would again rule to block the bulk collection before it expires Nov. 29.

Beginning then, as directed by Congress, the data will be retained by the phone companies, not the government.

"The clock is ticking, Mr. Klayman," Leon told the activist.

Leon then issued a stern warning to government lawyers at a brief hearing, saying that he would move quickly to rule again on the matter and not tolerate delays designed to keep the program running until the November deadline.

"I am not going to sit by and allow the government to run out the clock,'' Leon said.

The judge's strong words all but ensure that the the transition of the controversial surveillance system away from a government-maintained repository to databases retained by the telephone companies would not be a quiet one.

"We are going to move expeditiously in this court, I can promise you that,'' Leon said.

In last week's ruling, the three-judge appeals court panel ruled that the challengers to the telephone records collection failed to prove that their own records were collected. It cited the possibility that "legal constraints, technical challenges, budget limitations or other interests prevented NSA from collecting metadata'' from their phone company, Verizon Wireless.

The judge suggested that an amended complaint should perhaps include the broader Verizon Business Services as a participant in the collection program.

"You need to show a substantial likelihood that (your) records were harvested,'' Leon said. "This court believes that there are millions of Americans whose constitutional rights have been violated.''

Klayman said he planned to file the amended complaint within the next few days.

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