The American Civil Liberties Union appealed the recent...

The American Civil Liberties Union appealed the recent federal court decision upholding the legality of government phone surveillance in ACLU v. Clapper, as the group said it would do Dec. 27 when the ruling came down. The ACLU filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. District Court in New York Thursday (http://bit.ly/1bCrj5N). “We believe that the NSA’s call-tracking program violates both statutory law and the Constitution,” said ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer in a news release (http://bit.ly/1g3VeYV). The group anticipates that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals “will set an expedited briefing schedule and that it will hear oral argument in the spring,” it said.