''United States v. Moalin'' is a court case that was heard and decided by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District ...
. It was an appeal by four Somali individuals who had been convicted based on data obtained through bulk telephone data collection by the
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collect ...
. The appeals court upheld their convictions, but also ruled that bulk telephone data collection by the National Security Agency, the details of which were leaked by
Edward Snowden, was illegal.
The case proceeded slowly because of classified data, taking seven years.
On September 2, 2020, a unanimous decision by the three-judge panel was published.
They ruled that bulk collection of telephone data was illegal because it violated the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
They also ruled that it was possibly unconstitutional.
This decision may not have had a major effect, because the bulk telephone data collection program involved in the case ended in 2015, and the program that replaced it was also shut down.
See also
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Mass surveillance in the United States
The practice of mass surveillance in the United States dates back to wartime monitoring and censorship of international communications from, to, or which passed through the United States. After the First and Second World Wars, mass surveillan ...
References
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit cases
Mass surveillance litigation
2020 in United States case law
United States privacy case law
Privacy of telecommunications
National Security Agency
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