Supreme Court denies bid against NSA

Iran Press TV

Mon Nov 18, 2013 4:23PM GMT

The US Supreme Court has rejected a bid to prevent the National Security Agency from collecting records on all US phone calls.

According to The Hill, the court declined to hear the case brought by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) without providing any comment.

The case was the only one to go directly to the Supreme Court. It claimed that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) overstepped its authority when it granted the NSA permission to collect the phone records in bulk.

The Patriot Act only authorizes the super spy agency to collect business records only that are "relevant" to a "terrorism" investigation. EPIC argued that the FISC has violated the law by allowing the NSA to collect records on millions of Americans without any ties to "terrorism".

Observers say EPIC has little chance to win.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have also filed lawsuits against the NSA spying program in federal court. The lawsuits argue that the program violates constitutional rights and the Patriot Act.

British newspaper The Guardian and The Washington Post first revealed about the NSA surveillance program in June. The reports were based on revelations from the leaks by Edward J. Snowden, a former NSA contractor subsequently was then granted temporary asylum in Russia. Snowden is wanted in the US for espionage charges.

Following the outrageous revelations, the NSA is now facing a staggering number of inquiries with an increase of 988 percent, according to the USA Today.

On June 6, which was the end of the NSA's third fiscal year and when its confidential documents were disclosed, it received 1,302 requests. In the following three months, about 2,538 people sent their requests to the agency and this continued into the recent months.

ARA/ARA