Twitter to judge: Let us tell everyone exactly how many secret orders we get

Twitter has asked a federal judge to decide what seems like a relatively simple question: is it ok to tell the public that the company received a specific number of national security orders, rather than simply a broad range, during a given period of time? The case began more than two years ago, when Twitter sued the Department of Justice and argued that the federal law that prohibits the company from being more precise is unconstitutional. The government counters that courts should defer to the executive branch with respect to classification and not allow Twitter's request. Lawyers representing the social media giant and the Department of Justice squared off on Feb 14 during a hearing as to whether the judge should immediately rule in the government’s favor on a motion for summary judgment.