COEUR d'ALENE - Oral arguments before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled for Dec. 8 in a North Idaho nurse's legal challenge to the federal government's bulk collection of Americans' phone records. <\/p>\n
Coeur d'Alene attorney Peter Smith will be arguing in Seattle in front of the three-judge panel, representing his wife, Anna Smith, a neonatal nurse and Verizon Wireless customer. Verizon was one of the companies ordered to disclose records to the National Security Agency. <\/p>\n
The Smiths filed the lawsuit against President Barack Obama and several U.S. intelligence agencies after the government confirmed revelations that the NSA was collecting the data under the Patriot Act. <\/p>\n
Peter Smith said Friday the collection and storage of the phone records violates the Fourth Amendment. <\/p>\n
\"The question comes down to: Should the government be able to get this information and keep it?\" he said. \"Or should it be left with the private companies?\" <\/p>\n
Once the government has all the data, that gives it power, he said. It comes down to the possession of the records, he said. <\/p>\n
\"We don't trust the government,\" he said. <\/p>\n
U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Winmill dismissed Anna Smith's case. Winmill determined the legal precedent from the 1979 U.S. Supreme Court case Smith v. Maryland - about targeted phone surveillance - tied his hands. <\/p>\n
\"He followed the law as he understood it,\" Peter Smith said. <\/p>\n
The Smiths appealed to the Ninth Circuit. <\/p>\n
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Oral arguments set for NSA case<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" COEUR d'ALENE - Oral arguments before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled for Dec Continue reading