ACLU suspects warrantless surveillance in neo-Nazi's prosecution

Attorneys from the ACLU's National Security Project will be working with Brandon Clint Russell's defense 'for the limited purpose of challenging the government's secretive warrantless surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.'

Based on the government's own disclosures, we have good reason to believe that Mr. Russell was subjected to Section 702 surveillance and his case is a rare and important opportunity to challenge the government's practice of conducting warrantless 'backdoor searches' of its Section 702 databases to locate the communications of Americans.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign 'targets.' But if US persons - i.e., US citizens, permanent residents, and others residing in the country - communicate with foreign targets, their communications can get swept up in Section 702 surveillance as well.

Read at The Verge