The Judge believes the NSA's program is essential to fighting terrorism

Dec 28, 2013 12:26 GMT  ·  By

It was just a couple of weeks ago that a federal judge ruled that NSA’s telephony metadata collection was likely unconstitutional that another judge comes forth with a completely opposite opinion.

U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III from Manhattan took sides with the government as he decided that the collection program is a vital tool against terrorism and al Qaeda in particular.

Not only does his opinion go against that of another federal judge in the District of Columbia who said that this metadata collection program was almost certainly violating the Constitution, but it also comes into conflict with what the White House NSA review panel said. According to one of its members, they didn’t manage to find any proof whatsoever that this particular collection tool was effective in stopping any type of terrorist attack.

The New York case that lead to the recent ruling was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who claimed the NSA was violating constitutional rights by collecting metadata.

The decision left the ACLU extremely disappointed, but they’re still planning to appeal the ruling to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.

In his decision, Judge Pauley claimed that the right to be free from searches and seizures is, indeed, fundamental, but not absolute. “Every day, people voluntarily surrender personal and seemingly private information to trans-national corporations, which exploit the data for profit. Few think twice about it, even though it is far more intrusive than bulk telephony metadata collection,” the Judge said, failing to point out that this is a personal choice, not one made for each individual by the US government.

At the same time, the government is expected to appeal the decision coming from the District of Columbia. If any of the appeal courts deem the program unconstitutional, chances are the Supreme Court will review the case.

Whether the Supreme Court judges will actually side with the government or with those saying the NSA program is in violation of the Constitution remains to be seen.