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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

ACLU NV Supports Federal Judge's Ruling Against N-S-A Surveillance

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013   

RENO, Nev. – The Obama administration suffered a legal hit after a federal judge ruled Monday that the federal government is apparently violating the Constitution by collecting phone records of the American people.

Tod Story, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, says he believes the ruling is correct and that the National Security Agency's (NSA) accessing of phone call information violates the Fourth Amendment, which covers search, seizure and privacy rights.

"They should have to go to a judge – explain the reason for the surveillance that they wish to undertake and then have the judge be convinced of the merits of the case before they're allowed to proceed,” he contends. “What they've been doing is just the opposite."

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled in favor of several people who filed a lawsuit claiming that their constitutional rights were violated by the NSA surveillance.

Citing ongoing national security, the judge is reported to have stayed his own ruling and will give the federal government six months to appeal.

That means the NSA can continue business as usual, at least for now.

Meanwhile, Story says the federal government can pursue terrorists and bad actors while still respecting the rights of the individual.

"You need to find the guilty actors and then make your case, rather than going out looking for evidence to find guilty actors," he says.

President Barack Obama has said phone surveillance is necessary in America's ongoing battle against terrorism.

Story says the issue probably is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.





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