When it came to light in 2013 that the National Security Agency had been routinely storing all data on the telephone habits of all Americans, public outrage ensued. And no one was as upset as Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the conservative who shepherded the Patriot Act through Congress in 2001 as House Judiciary chairman.

Sensenbrenner responded to the revelation by insisting that the law he wrote allows no such indiscriminate mass surveillance of Americans in order to thwart terrorists. On Thursday, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a landmark ruling that vindicates Sensenbrenner’s view.