The Electronic Privacy Information Center said Thursday it will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to abolish the law that lets the National Security Agency collect data on Americans’ telephone calls.
The Domestic Surveillance Project, an arm of the EPIC, will file the petition on Monday, Raw Story reported.
Domestic Surveillance Project Director Amie Stepanovich said, “EPIC truly believes that this Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court exceeded its authority, is not acting in accordance with the law and needs to be overturned — and cannot be allowed to continue conducting this surveillance,” Raw Story reported.
The American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the NSA’s data-collection powers, too.
EPIC has filed prior petitions of similar nature to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and to NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander.
“We believe that the NSA’s collection of domestic communications contravenes the First and Fourth Amendments to the United States Constitution and violates several federal privacy laws, including the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, as amended,” the petition states, Raw Story reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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