State Secrets Front and Center in Dragnet Surveillance Case

David Kravets reports:

A federal judge on Friday is to hold the first hearing following an appellate court’s decision reinstating allegations that the government is siphoning Americans’ communications from telecoms to the National Security Agency without warrants.

The new judge on the case, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco, isn’t so sure the President Barack Obama administration may automatically prevail by its assertion of the state secrets privilege, according to the judge’s remarks in a Wednesday filing.

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