While I express no view on the merits of the plaintiffs’ constitutional claims, I do believe that at least some of the plaintiffs have standing to make those claims. I dissent, with respect, from the majority’s contrary conclusion.
— The closing paragraph of Justice Stephen Breyer’s dissent in Clapper v. Amnesty International USA (02/26/2013). The Supreme Court’s conservative majority dismissed a challenge to the 2008 amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that gave telecom companies immunity and made it easier for the federal government to snoop on Americans’ communications. Breyer dissented along with Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Ginsburg.
