FILE - This June 6, 2013 file photo shows a sign outside the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md. A civil rights lawyer says the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is very disappointed that a New York judge has found that a government program that collects millions of Americans' telephone records is legal. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
December 27, 2013 - 10:22 AM
NEW YORK, N.Y. - A civil rights lawyer says the American Civil Liberties Union is very disappointed that a New York judge has found that a government program that collects millions of Americans' telephone records is legal.
Attorney Brett Max Kaufman said the ACLU will appeal Friday's ruling by federal Judge William Pauley in Manhattan. The judge concluded that the program was legal and a valuable part of the nation's efforts to combat the threat of terrorism. The judge said the phone collection program only works because it collects everything.
Kaufman said he hopes a federal appeals court in New York agrees with the reasoning of a Washington D.C. federal judge who concluded earlier this month that the program likely violates the Constitution.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013