The NSA vs. the Constitution

[Commentary] Six months after Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency was indiscriminately collecting the phone records of Americans and holding on to them for years for possible use in terrorism investigations, a federal judge has rightly ruled that the program probably violates the 4th Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. At least some members of the Supreme Court recognize that the doctrine of privacy developed in the 1970s needs to be reexamined. Last year, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the court's current approach to privacy was "ill-suited to the digital age." If a federal appeals court were to endorse Judge Leon's sound reasoning, the Supreme Court would have an opportunity to bring its interpretation of the 4th Amendment into the 21st century.