The federal government filed a brief in the ten-year quest by the American Civil Liberties Union for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) documents showing its bulk collection authority. The en blanc FISA court ruled the ACLU should be heard on the merits of its First Amendment argument but doubted it could dent the court’s security. The government brief argues that since the FISA court is exclusively dealing with U.S. foreign intelligence, great harm could result in releasing such information making the ACLU request “beyond debate.”(techdirt, March 2, 2018, by Tim Cushing)
The court ruled 6-5 last November to allow the ACLU to continue its lawsuit making a distinction between the merits of the case and the plaintiffs’ standing. The ACLU is working with Yale Law’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic in bringing the lawsuit. (SC Media, November 14, 2018, by Bradley Barth)