US judge says NSA phone surveillance is lawful

Credit: Reuters/Jim Urquhart

A National Security Agency (NSA) data gathering facility is seen in Bluffdale, about 25 miles (40 kms) south of Salt Lake City, Utah, December 17, 2013.

U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan on Friday said there was no evidence that the government had used any of the so-called 'bulk telephony metadata' it had collected for any reason other than to investigate and disrupt terrorist attacks.

While saying the program 'vacuums up information about virtually every telephone call to, from, or within the United States,' Pauley said its legality under the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 'is ultimately a question of reasonableness.'

The judge denied the ACLU's motion for a preliminary injunction and granted a government motion to dismiss the case. Neither the ACLU nor the U.S. Department of Justice immediately responded to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris Reese)