From EPIC:
EPIC has filed a reply brief in In re EPIC with the U.S. Supreme Court, responding to the Government’s brief, which was filed after two extensions. The government argues the Supreme Court cannot hear the case. EPIC responded that it “simply cannot be correct” that the order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, an inferior court, is not reviewable by the Supreme Court. EPIC also explained that the order is clearly unlawful. “No court has ever determined that ‘relevance’ permits the compelled production of such vast quantities of irrelevant personal information,” EPIC said, noting that Congressman Sensenbrenner, co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act, has written that “This expansive characterization of relevance makes a mockery of the legal standard.” EPIC also outlined the extraordinary impact of the NSA telephone record collection on all Americans: “These telephone records are unique and identifiable, and reveal a great deal of private information about millions of telephone users. In no instance has the Government established any individualized suspicion to support the collection of this information.” For more information, see In re EPIC.