NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A federal judge ruled that a National Security Agency program that collects records of millions of Americans’ phone calls is lawful, calling it a “counter-punch” to terrorism that does not violate Americans’ privacy rights.
Friday’s decision by U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan diverged from a ruling by another judge this month that questioned the program’s constitutionality, raising the prospect that the Supreme Court will need to resolve the issue.
In a 54-page decision, Pauley dismissed an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit contending that the
