United States Second Circuit

Holding that 18 U.S.C. section 2709 unconstitutional on its face and as applied to one Doe defendant internet service provider, who received a National Security Letter (NSL) from the FBI, is vacated where the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 added provisions permitting NSL recipients to challenge the issuance of NSLs in court, but issues under First Amendment are remanded. Appeal of injunction granted in favor of second doe defendant internet service provider is dismissed where the Government concedes such defendant can reveal its identity, as was required by the injunction.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/23/2006
• Published 05/24/2006

Judges

• Before CARDAMONE, McLAUGHLIN, B.D. PARKER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Douglas N. Letter (Robert D. McCallum, Jr., Acting Deputy Attorney General, Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, Gregory G. Katsas, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Scott R. McIntosh, Department of Justice Attorney, Washington DC;  David N. Kelly, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jeffrey Oestericher, Assistant United States Attorney, New York, NY;  Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, William Collier, Lisa E. Perkins, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Hartford, CT, on the brief) Department of Justice, Civil Division, Appellate Section, Washington DC, for Defendants-Appellants., Jameel Jaffer & Ann Beeson (Melissa Goodman, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY;  Arthur N. Eisenberg, New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY;  Annette M. Lamoreaux, American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut Foundation, Hartford, CT, on the brief) American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs-Appellees., Bettina B. Plevan (Stephen L. Kass, Samantha Klein, Ethan I. Strell, Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, New York, NY, Sarah Netburn, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP, New York, NY, of counsel), Association of the Bar of the City of New York, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae Association of the Bar of the City of New York in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees., Daniel Mach & Theresa A. Chmara (Brian Hauck, Amy L. Tenney, on the brief) Jenner & Block LLP, Washington DC, for Amici Curiae American Association of University Professors, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Library Association, Association of American Publishers, Freedom to Read Foundation, and Pen American Center in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees., Meredith Fuchs (Marc Rotenberg, Marcia Hofmann, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Washington DC, on the brief) National Security Archive, Washington, DC, for Amici Curiae National Security Archive, Project on Government Secrecy of the Federation of American Scientists, Electronic Privacy Information Center, and National Whistleblower Center in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees., Lee Tien (Kurt B. Opsahl, Kevin S. Bankston, on the brief) Electronic Frontier Foundation, San Francisco, CA, for Amicus Curiae Electronic Frontier Foundation in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees.