American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
493 F.3d 644 (2007)

- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
The National Security Agency (NSA) (defendant) established the Terrorist Surveillance Program, which, without a warrant, intercepted communications if the sender or recipient was located outside the United States and the NSA believed the sender or recipient was part of or working with al Qaeda. The American Civil Liberties Union and others (collectively, ACLU) (plaintiffs) sued the NSA, claiming that the program was unconstitutional. The ACLU alleged that it frequently communicated with individuals outside the United States who might be subject to the NSA’s warrantless surveillance. The ACLU argued that the program violated the First Amendment due to the program’s chilling effect on the ACLU’s international communications. The ACLU claimed that it was harmed because it either had to refrain from communicating with its contacts to avoid the surveillance or had to incur the cost of traveling overseas to communicate in person. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan agreed and granted the ACLU summary judgment, finding the program to be unconstitutional. The NSA appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Batchelder, J.)
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