Judge rules in favor of NSA phone surveillance

A fed­er­al dis­trict judge in Man­hat­tan has up­held the con­sti­tu­tion­al­ity of the Na­tion­al Se­cur­ity Agency’s massive col­lec­tion of data from tele­phone calls. Say­ing that the pro­gram “rep­res­ents the gov­ern­ment’s counter-punch” in the fight against ter­ror­ism, Dis­trict Judge Wil­li­am Paul­ey ruled in dis­miss­ing a law­suit brought by the Amer­ic­an Civil Liber­ties Uni­on.