A privacy rights group will file an emergency petition with the Supreme Court on Monday in an effort to halt the National Security Agency’s sweeping collection of millions of telephone records, the New York Times reported.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center — a Washington- based nonprofit founded in 1994 that seeks to shed light on civil liberties and First Amendment issues — said it is taking it case directly to the Supreme Court due to the “exceptional circumstances” of the issue and because it could not challenge the program with the secret court that approved the surveillance.
Moreover, the group told the Times that lower courts do not have the authority to hear review an order handed down by the secret court — the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, better-known as the “FISA court.”
