Obama was initially expected to dig through the reform proposals before Christmas and announce which ones he would adopt. However, the White House now says that process won’t be complete until sometime next month.
The delay gives Leon’s decision time to resonate and gives surveillance skeptics more time to pressure Obama to endorse significant reforms after Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA surveillance practices…
“There have been hints of diversity of opinion in [the interagency process], with some people in the White House more pro-privacy and others less so,” said Michelle Richardson of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is pressing for an end to bulk data collection and for greater safeguards on surveillance. “This is going to open up a whole new point in the debate….Hopefully, this will lead to more support for meaningful changes,” she said.
Former National Security Agency director Michael Hayden, a backer of the call-tracking program, also said the new court ruling could shift the balance in favor of more limits on the NSA’s work.
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