The three-judge federal appeals panel in New York that declared illegal the bulk collection of domestic phone data by the National Security Agency is surely correct that Congress had no idea that it was authorizing such practices when it passed the USA Patriot Act.
The plain language of the law simply doesn’t provide such broad leeway to gather and store information that most of us had considered private. And some members of Congress clearly were stunned to learn about the bulk collection two years ago when it became public knowledge.
If the judges are somehow wrong about their conclusion, they outlined an easy fix in their opinion.
“If Congress chooses to authorize such a far-reaching and unprecedented program,” the panel wrote, “it has every opportunity to do so, and to do so unambiguously.”
We certainly hope Congress does no such thing.
To the contrary, as it debates reauthorization of the Patriot Act surveillance law, which expires June 1, Congress should restrict these metadata sweeps. At the very least, the NSA should be barred from conducting warrantless searches of its databases.
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