In some positive news, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has organized a a broad coalition of membership and political advocacy organizations to challenge NSA surveillance based on first amendment rights. These groups including the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, Calguns Foundation, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, among others. Prior challenges have used arguments based on the 4th amendment, but grounds for fourth amendment challenges have been eroded in recent years.
As pointed out by the Cindy Cohn, Legal Director for EFF:
fear of individual exposure when participating in political debates over high-stakes issues can dissuade people from taking part. That's why the Supreme Court ruled in 1958 that membership lists of groups have strong First Amendment protection. Telephone records, especially complete records collected over many years, are even more invasive than membership lists, since they show casual or repeated inquiries as well as full membership.
Whether or not telephone and internet information collected by the government relates to terrorism, the
NSA can keep data on U.S. citizens indefinitely. Potentially an individuals in the government could used that information against individuals or groups they dislike regardless of whether or not the individuals or groups had done anything illegal.
The First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, whose name appears first among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, brings symbolic strength and a long history of fighting for the first amendment to today's lawsuit against the US government. On February 21, 1954 the congregation voted to refuse to sign a "loyalty oath" that the State of California had amended to tax documents. As a result, the church was denied tax exempt status and suffered financial hardship. On June 30, 1958, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the church for its refusal to sign loyalty and struck out the offending oath.
Reverend Rick Hoyt, the church's openly gay minister, had this to say about the lawsuit and government surveillance programs:
The First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles has a proud history of working for justice and protecting people in jeopardy for expressing their political views. In the 1950's, we resisted the McCarthy hysteria and supported blacklisted Hollywood writers and actors, and we fought California's 'loyalty oaths' all the way to the Supreme Court. And in the 1980's, we gave sanctuary to refugees from civil wars in Central America. The principles of our faith often require our church to take bold stands on controversial issues. We joined this lawsuit to stop the illegal surveillance of our members and the people we serve. Our church members and our neighbors who come to us for help should not fear that their participation in the church might have consequences for themselves or their families. This spying makes people afraid to belong to our church community.