If the Supreme Court tackles the NSA in 2015, it’ll be one of these five cases

2015 is likely to be a big year for privacy policy, as 2014 saw a handful of the national security and surveillance-related civil and criminal cases stemming fully or partially from the Snowden/National Security Agency documents advance far enough through the legal system. One or more of the cases could even end up before the Supreme Court.

"I think it's impossible to tell which case will be the one that does it, but I believe that, ultimately, the Supreme Court will have to step in and decide the constitutionality of some of the National Security Agency's practices," said Mark Rumold, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Rumold is one of the attorneys in First Unitarian Church, a case that is challenging government surveillance much like Klayman v. Obama. Along with that pair, headline watchers should set alerts for cases such as American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) v. Clapper, United States v. Moalin, and United States v. Muhtorov. Not only are there several other related cases that will likely be influenced by these decisions, but those five cases represent the strongest and most direct legal challenges to the current NSA surveillance state.

[Jan 1]