On November 20, 2006, the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the National Security Agency (NSA) could withhold documents and information related to its Terrorist Surveillance Program, requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the People for the American Way. Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle ruled that the sought disclosures were exempted because the issue "related to national security" and was "specifically exempted from disclosure by statute," citing the National Security Act of 1959 and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The controversy over the expansion of domestic surveillance has sparked numerous lawsuits in the US, including complaints filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).

Learn more about the controversy surrounding domestic surveillance and the National Security Agency from the JURIST news archive.