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