U.S. Government Phone Surveillance Programs

COLD OPEN: This is a Memorandum Opinion issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on December 16, 2013. The document relates to the lawsuits Klayman et al. v. Obama et al. and Klayman et al. v. Obama et al., which challenged the constitutionality and statutory authorization of certain intelligence-gathering practices by the United States government. The cases were filed in response to public revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs. The document is available on The Black Vault's website, with a canonical PDF located at documents.theblackvault.com/documents/nsa/nsaruling-12-16-2013.pdf. PROVENANCE: The document was released on April 17, 2016, as part of a batch of declassified records related to U.S. government surveillance programs. The release was likely in response to Congressional inquiries and public pressure following the Edward Snowden leaks. The document was declassified by the National Security Agency, with the release authority unknown. THE DOCUMENT: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA KLAYMAN et al., v. OBAMA et al., KLAYMAN et al., v. OBAMA et al., Plaintiffs, Defendants. Civil Action No. 13-0851 (RJL) FILED DEC 1 6 2013 Clerk, U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts for the District of Columbia MORANDUM OPINION December 16, 2013 [Dkt. # 13 (No. 13-0851), # 10 (No. 13-0881)] On June 6, 2013, plaintiffs brought the first of two related lawsuits challenging the constitutionality and statutory authorization of certain intelligence-gathering practices by the United States government relating to the wholesale collection of the phone record metadata of all U.S. citizens. These related cases are two of several lawsuits arising from public revelations over the past six months that the federal government, through the National Security Agency, and with the participation of certain telecommunications and internet companies, has conducted surveillance and intelligence-gathering programs that collect certain data about the telephone and internet activity of American citizens within the United States. Plaintiffs-five individuals in total between No. 13-851 ("Klayman I") and No. 13-881 ("Klayman II")-bring these suits as U.S. citizens who are subscribers or users of certain telecommunications and internet firms. They bring suit against both federal government defendants (several federal agencies and individual executive officials) and private defendants (telecommunications and internet firms and their executive officers), alleging statutory and constitutional violations. Before the Court are plaintiffs' two Motions for Preliminary Injunction [Dkt. # 13 (Klayman I), # 10 (Klayman II)], one in each case. As relief, plaintiffs seek an injunction that, during the pendency of this suit, (i) bars defendants from collecting plaintiffs' call records under the mass call surveillance program; (ii) requires defendants to destroy all of plaintiffs' call records already collected under the program; and (iii) prohibits defendants from querying metadata obtained through the program using any phone number or other identifier associated with plaintiffs and such other relief as may be found just and proper. In light of how plaintiffs have crafted their requested relief, the Court construes the motions as requesting a preliminary injunction only as against the federal government defendants, and only with regard to the government's bulk collection and querying of phone record metadata. Further, between the two cases, plaintiffs have alleged with sufficient particularity that only two of the five named plaintiffs, Larry Klayman and Charles Strange, are telephone service subscribers. Accordingly, for purposes of resolving these two motions, the Court's discussion of relevant facts, statutory background, and legal issues will be circumscribed to those defendants (hereinafter "the Government"), those two plaintiffs (hereinafter "plaintiffs"), and those claims. CONTEXT: The document provides a detailed account of the plaintiffs' lawsuits and the relief they seek. It also sets out the Court's reasoning for construing the motions as requesting a preliminary injunction only as against the federal government defendants and only with regard to the government's bulk collection and querying of phone record metadata. OUTRO: This is what the public record looks like at its most ordinary. The document is a testament to the complexities and nuances of the U.S. government's surveillance programs. For more information, visit storyflo.com. The canonical PDF for this document is available at documents.theblackvault.com/documents/nsa/nsaruling-12-16-2013.pdf.