Court rules NSA surveillance program exposed by Snowden violated law but upholds terror convictions

By Jerry Dunleavy

Published September 3, 2020 4:45pm ET

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Court rules NSA surveillance program exposed by Snowden violated law but upholds terror convictions — FILE - In this June 9, 2013 file photo provided by The Guardian Newspaper in London shows Edward Snowden, who worked as a contract employee at the National Security Agency, in Hong Kong. Former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden, who is wanted by the U.S. for leaking details about once-secret surveillance programs, has been granted permission to stay in Russia for three more years, his lawyer said Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014. Snowden last year was granted temporary asylum of one year in Russia, but that ran out on Aug. 1. (AP Photo/The Guardian, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, File) | Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras

A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that a key aspect of the mass surveillance program exposed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden was illegal, but it did not reach a conclusion on its constitutionality.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit also upheld the convictions of four men who said they were monitored under the program for sending thousands of dollars to support the terrorist group al Shabab back in Somalia.

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Tag:

Department of Justice Edward Snowden FISA Law NSA Surveillance Terrorism