James R. Clapper, JR., Director of National Intelligence, et al., Petitioners v. Amnesty International USA et al. (568 U.S. 398)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 26, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 568 U.S. 398 · 133 S. Ct. 1138
- Decided
- February 26, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Alito
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, 50 U. S. C. § 1881a (2006 ed., Supp. V), allows the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to acquire foreign intelligence information by jointly authorizing the surveillance of individuals who are not “United States persons” and are reasonably believed to be located outside the United States. Before doing so, the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence normally must obtain the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court’s approval. Respondents are United States persons whose work, they allege, requires them to engage in sensitive international communications with individuals who they believe are likely targets of surveillance under § 1881a. Respondents seek a declaration that § 1881a is unconstitutional, as well as an injunction against § 1881a-authorized surveillance. The question before us is whether respondents have Article III standing to seek this prospective relief. Respondents assert that they can establish injury in fact because there is an objectively reasonable likelihood that their communications will be acquired under § 1881a at some point in the future. But respondents’ theory of future injury is too speculative to satisfy the well-established requirement that threatened injury must be “certainly impending.” E.…
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