District Court in California Contradicts FISC, Orders Government to Preserve Metadata
Earlier today, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Northern District of California issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the government from destroying call record metadata in the 215 program.
Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
Earlier today, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Northern District of California issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the government from destroying call record metadata in the 215 program. "It is undisputed," he wrote, "that the Court would be unable to afford effective relief once the records are destroyed, and therefore the harm to Plaintiffs would be irreparable."
Judge White's brief order---as well as its underlying logic---directly conflicts with FISC Judge Reggie B. Walton's March 7 order which required that the government destroy the telephony metadata. The government had requested that it be permitted not to destroy data after the normal five year period to preserve it for evidence in civil litigation. Judge Walton, as we reported the other day, had refused.
In other words, at least for now, the government is under order both to destroy the data and to preserve the very same data.
Lauren Bateman is a student at Harvard Law School, where she is an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She previously worked as a National Security Legislative Correspondent for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and she takes a special interest in legislative procedure. She also interned for the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada, and was a Research Fellow for the Project on National Security Reform. She graduated with a B.A., magna cum laude, in History and Government from The College of William & Mary in 2009.
