Appeals court takes on NSA surveillance case

Three federal appeals court judges struggled Tuesday over whether the National Security Agency’s phone data surveillance program is an intelligence-gathering tool that makes the nation safer or an intrusive threat that endangers privacy.

 

The judges — all appointed by Republican presidents — expressed uncertainty about where to draw the line between legal surveillance and violations of constitutional rights in the age of terrorism.

 

Since 2006, the FBI has obtained orders from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court directing phone companies to produce telephone “metadata” — outgoing phone numbers dialed and numbers from incoming calls — to the government.

 

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