The US District Court of Brooklyn ruled that Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is unconstitutional as it allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to conduct searches on US citizens’ communications without warrants.
The case relates to a 2011 terrorist investigation whereby the FBI used FISA to gather evidence on a US citizen without disclosing that they had not acquired a warrant to access their correspondence.
Despite previous assumptions that FISA effectively bolstered national security, the court ruled that Section 702 will actually convert into a “tool for law enforcement to run ‘backdoor searches’ that circumvent the Fourth Amendment”.
This ruling demonstrates a significant shift in how US courts interpret surveillance laws, setting a precedent that could potentially impact how intelligence agencies gather information on US persons both within and outside the country.