Supreme Court declines to revive ACLU lawsuit over NSA surveillance

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to revive an ACLU lawsuit challenging a portion of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance of Americans' international email and phone communications.

The justices left in place an appeals court ruling against the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia. The organization said that the National Security Agency's Upstream surveillance program violates free-speech rights and protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

Details of the Upstream program are classified, but it collects data from transmissions over high-speed cables that carry electronic communications into and out of the country.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, had ruled that the lawsuit must be dismissed after the government invoked the state secrets privilege against the possible damage to national security that might result from a court case.