U.S District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan ruled that the National Security Agency's program, which collects the records of million of Americans' phone calls, is a lawful procedure. Pauley said that there is no evidence that the collected data has been used for an reason other than to investigate and disrupt terrorist attacks, Reuters reported.
The ruling rejects a challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union to the counter-terrorism program. The ruling also counters a December 16 measure by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington D.C., who said the NSA program was likely unconstitutional, and "almost Orwellian" in its violation of the 4th Amendment.
"Technology allowed al-Qaeda to operate decentralized and plot international terrorist attacks remotely. The bulk telephony metadata collection program represents the government's counter-punch," Judge Pauley wrote in a 54-page decision.
The program "vacuums up information about virtually every telephone call to, from, or within the United States," the judge added.
Pauley's decision "preserves a vital weapon weapon for the United States in our war against international terrorism," said Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterintelligence & Terrorism, in a statement.
President Barack Obama has defended the surveillance program, but indicated a willingness to consider constraints, according to recent statements at his end of the year press briefing.
The NSA's procedures were was its former contractor, Edward Snowden, who has since fled to Russia, which granted him temporary asylum.
Under the programme, "America's electronic surveillance agency orders Verizon - one of the largest phone companies in the US - to hand over its metadata," BBC News reported.
"This includes telephone numbers, times and dates of calls, calling card numbers and the serial numbers of phones, from millions of calls Verizon processes in which at least one party is in the US," reported BBC News.
