Federal Judge Hands Down New Major Ruling on NSA Surveillance

Less than two weeks after Federal District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that the National Security Agency’s collection of metadata from millions of Americans was likely unconstitutional, another federal judge in New York has deemed the surveillance program legal.

CNN justice reporter Evan Perez explained that the new ruling by Judge William Pauley does not supersede Judge Leon’s ruling, but it could mean that the question will come to the Supreme Court before too long. “Both judges are looking at the same program and coming to very different opinions on it,” Perez said.

-RELATED: Greenwald to MSNBC: Judge’s Anti-NSA Ruling ‘Pure Vindication’ for Snowden

While Judge Leon called the NSA program “Orwellian,” Judge Pauley said, “This blunt tool only works because it collects everything.”

Watch video below, via CNN:

[photo via screengrab]

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