Federal Court Ruling —
Surveillance Powers and Customer Records
On September 29, 2004, in a decision on ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) v. Ashcroft, a Federal court struck down Section 505 of the USA PATRIOT Act on the grounds that it violates free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the right to be free of unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. The ACLU is also challenging the constitutionality of Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. Both Section 215 and Section 505 eliminate the requirement that the FBI demonstrate "probable cause" before obtaining customer records; Section 505 focuses on electronic records.DecisionPlaintiffs in this case challenge the…
