44
UNITED STATES V. MOHAMUD
Ct. 1958, 1970 (2013). In deciding reasonableness, we
examine the totality of the circumstances and weigh “‘the
promotion of legitimate governmental interests’ against ‘the
degree to which [the search] intrudes upon an individual’s
privacy.’” Id. (quoting Wyoming v. Houghton, 526 U.S. 295,
300 (1999)). We agree with the district court that under these
circumstances, the search was reasonable under the Fourth
Amendment.
i. Government Interest
“[T]he Government’s interest in combating terrorism is
an urgent objective of the highest order.” Holder v.
Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U.S. 1, 28 (2010). Neither
Mohamud nor Amici challenge this. Instead, they argue that
(1) the statutory definition of “foreign intelligence
information” in § 702 is overbroad because it is not confined
to national security information but also includes “the
conduct of [] foreign affairs”27; and (2) even if national
security justifies the initial acquisition, it is unreasonable to
then retain and later search U.S. persons’ § 702-acquired
communications without a warrant.
The declassified facts foreclose both arguments. First, as
the district court observed, “the discovery in this case all
concerned protecting the country from a terrorist threat and
did not stray into the broader category of the conduct of
foreign affairs.” Thus, we need not determine whether the
collection of foreign affairs communications is reasonable.
Similarly, the second argument is also outside the scope of
our review, as no such retention and querying is at issue in
this case.
27
See 50 U.S.C. §§ 1801(e)(2)(b), 1881(a).
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