34 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
34 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
|
# Federal Judge Rules NSLs (National Security Letters) Unconstitutional
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This news is huge and an incredible win for both the EFF and all U.S. citizens.
|
|||
|
|
Today, [United States District Judge Susan Illston found the National Security
|
|||
|
|
Letters' gag provisions unconstitutional][0] and---since the review procedures
|
|||
|
|
violate the separation of powers and cannot be separated from the rest of the
|
|||
|
|
statute---has consequently [ruled the NSLs themselves to be
|
|||
|
|
unconstitutional][1]:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[0]: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/03/nsl-found-unconstitutional/
|
|||
|
|
[1]: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/national-security-letters-are-unconstitutional-federal-judge-rules
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
> In today's ruling, the court held that the gag order provisions of the statute
|
|||
|
|
> violate the First Amendment and that the review procedures violate separation
|
|||
|
|
> of powers. Because those provisions were not separable from the rest of the
|
|||
|
|
> statute, the court declared the entire statute unconstitutional
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<!-- more -->
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This is an exciting decision; let's see where it takes us.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
> U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered the government to stop issuing
|
|||
|
|
> so-called NSLs across the board, in a stunning defeat for the Obama
|
|||
|
|
> administration’s surveillance practices. She also ordered the government to
|
|||
|
|
> cease enforcing the gag provision in any other cases. However, she stayed her
|
|||
|
|
> order for 90 days to give the government a chance to appeal to the Ninth
|
|||
|
|
> Circuit Court of Appeals.[[0]]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[The issues surrounding NSLs][2] were highlighted just last week when [Google
|
|||
|
|
released numbers relating to the orders that it received][3].
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[2]: https://www.eff.org/issues/national-security-letters
|
|||
|
|
[3]: /2013/03/google-says-the-fbi-is-secretly-spying-on-some-of-its-customers
|