Court Declares FBI's Warrantless Searches Under FISA Section 702 Unconstitutional

The ruling highlights Fourth Amendment violations and renews calls for Congress to reform surveillance laws before their 2026 expiration.

A federal court ruled that the FBI's warrantless searches of communications under FISA Section 702 violated the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches.
The case involved Agron Hasbajrami, a U.S. resident convicted of terrorism charges, whose communications were accessed without a warrant through a FISA database query.
Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall emphasized that the government must obtain a warrant to search communications involving U.S. persons, rejecting the 'foreign intelligence exception' argument.
Civil liberties groups like the ACLU and EFF praised the decision as a step toward greater privacy protections and urged Congress to reform Section 702 with stricter warrant requirements.
Despite the ruling, Hasbajrami remains in prison, as the court declined to suppress evidence due to agents acting in 'good faith' under prior legal interpretations.