Kendall Coffey on Whether NSA Phone Surveillance Actually Violates the Constitution

Does the NSA have the right to our phone records?
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Does the government have the right to monitor our phone records? This is one of the big controversies that has come out of Edward Snowden’s leak of confidential information about NSA surveillance methods. The information leaked by Snowden, who is now in hiding in Russia, caused a major uproar in the U.S. over what the government actually has a right to access—and what is a violation of our privacy.

A ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington stated that the NSA’s surveillance of who we are calling and for how long was likely unconstitutional. However, at the end of December, U.S. District Judge William Pauley in New York ruled just the opposite—that the government’s bulk collection of such data was perfectly legal.

So, what does the constitution actually protect us from? According to legal analyst Kendall Coffey, the government is perfectly within its rights to monitor our phone records. We may not all be comfortable with that fact, but the truth is, it’s been happening for a long time.

“But here’s the issue: since 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court has said it’s pretty clear that information from your phone and to [whom] you’re calling and how long the duration of the phone call is not confidential or private information,” Coffey said on a recent segment of Steve Malzberg’s Spinning the Law.

“I understand why many of us are uncomfortable about the fact that the government has so much information about all of us… [and] can do so many things to collect information and analyze it,” he continues.

“But the reality is that there isn’t a constitutional protection from those bits of information one at a time. So putting it all together, which is what the existing capabilities allow, doesn’t turn it into a constitutional violation.”

Following that logic, the government can freely collect information on who we call and how long those calls last—information that used to show up on our monthly phone bills—and analyze that information as it pleases.

What are your thoughts on the NSA's phone surveillance?