J.R.McHale

The Opinion: [pdf](http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/5b758b27-c77d-44a2-b6e5-dbf456f5c142/1/doc/14-42_complete_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/5b758b27-c77d-44a2-b6e5-dbf456f5c142/1/hilite/) (110 pages)

News Reports:

[NSA Program on Phone Records is Illegal, Court Rules](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/appeals-court-rules-nsa-record-collection-violates-patriot-act/2015/05/07/c4fabfb8-f4bf-11e4-bcc4-e8141e5eb0c9_story.html) – Washington Post

[NSA Phone Program is Illegal, Appeals Court Rules](http://www.wsj.com/article_email/appeals-court-rules-nsa-phone-program-not-authorized-by-patriot-act-1431005482-lMyQjAxMTA1MDA2NzcwNTc0Wj) – Wall Street Journal

Audio Summary for Laypersons: Professor William McGeveran on [Wisconsin public radio](http://www.wpr.org/listen/755961) (approx. 10 minutes)

Analysis and Opinion:

[Second Circuit Rules that Section 215 Does Not Authorize Telephony Bulk Collection Program](http://justsecurity.org/22799/breaking-circuit-rules-section-215-authorize-telephony-bulk-collection-program/) – Marty Lederman at Just Security

[Second Circuit Rules, Mostly Symbolically, that Current Text of Section 215 Doesn’t Authorize Bulk Surveillance](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/07/second-circuit-rules-mostly-symbolically-that-current-text-of-section-215-doesnt-authorize-bulk-surveillance/) – Orin Kerr in the Washington Post

[Court Backs Snowden, Strikes Secret Laws](http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-05-07/court-backs-snowden-strikes-secret-laws?cmpid=yhoo) – Noah Feldman at BloombergView

Background Legal Paper by an Attorney for one of the Amici Curiae: [Bulk Metadata Collection: Statutory and Constitutional Considerations](http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2344774) by Laura Donohue (2013)(pdf download at the link)

Impact on Patriot Act Section 215 Status/Sunset:

[How the Second Circuit’s Decision Changes the Legislative Game](http://www.lawfareblog.com/2015/05/how-the-second-circuits-decision-changes-the-legislative-game/) – Liza Goiten at LawFare

[The Second Circuit and the Politics of Surveillance Reform](http://justsecurity.org/22839/circuit-politics-surveillance-reform/) – Steve Vladeck at Just Security

Related:

[If the Supreme Court Tackles the NSA in 2015, It’ll be One of these Five Cases](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/if-the-supreme-court-tackles-the-nsa-in-2015-itll-be-one-of-these-five-cases/) – The Hill