Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Case Challenging NSA Surveillance

The Supreme Court declined to hear Wikimedia v. NSA, Wikimedia’s challenge to the NSA’s mass surveillance of Internet communications under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires at the end of 2023. The district court and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled that the case must be dismissed under the “state secrets privilege” because the NSA said it would have to reveal national security secrets to defend its actions in court.

EPIC has participated as amicus in several previous cases challenging the use of the state secrets privilege to defend government surveillance programs, including Wikimedia v. NSA and FBI v. Fazaga. EPIC has joined a coalition of civil liberties groups urging Congress to either enact significant reforms to Section 702 or let it sunset. EPIC also recently published an overview of Section 702 as part of a new blog series focused on explaining Section 702 and the need to reform it.