“The secretive federal court overseeing U.S. spying operations granted the final order on Friday allowing the National Security Agency to collect millions of Americans’ phone records,” writes The Hill . “When the existing order runs out on Nov. 29, legislation passed by Congress earlier this summer will go into effect, killing the NSA’s controversial phone records program.”  

“On Nov. 29, the NSA will be forced to halt the collection of Americans’ records and shift to a new system in which the spy agency obtains a court order before searching private phone companies’ records for a narrower set of suspects’ records. That new plan is the result of a reform bill that passed through Congress earlier in the summer with the support of the White House.”  

“Friday’s court order came hours after a top appeals court dismissed a preliminary injunction against the NSA’s controversial spying. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to rule on the merits of the data collection, but nonetheless tossed out a lower court ruling finding the program likely unconstitutional. The lawyers and activists who brought the case lacked sufficient standing to sue and receive the injunction, the court said.”