Judge: NSA’s collecting of phone records is likely unconstitutional --- A federal judge in Washington said Monday that the National Security Agency’s widespread collection of telephone records of millions of Americans is likely unconstitutional. -- U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon found that the lawsuit by activist Larry Klayman, the founder of Freedom Watch, has “demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success” on the basis of Fourth Amendment privacy protections against unreasonable searches. -- Leon granted Klayman’s request for a preliminary injunction that blocks the controversial program. But the judge stayed action on his ruling pending a government appeal in recognition of the “significant national security interests at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issues,” Leon wrote in a 68-page opinion. -- “I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval,” Leon wrote. --- Snowden, in a statement made to journalist Glenn Greenwald, who received NSA documents from Snowden and first reported on the program’s existence, praised the ruling. “I acted on my belief that the NSA’s mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge, and that the American public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts,” he said. “Today, a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans’ rights. It is the first of many.” - More, Washingtonpost, at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/judge-nsas-collecting-of-phone-records-is-likely-unconstitutional/2013/12/16/6e098eda-6688-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html?hpid=z1