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SALT LAKE CITY — A judge refused Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the National Security Agency conducted a mass warrantless surveillance program during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby decided to let the case from a former mayor proceed, rejecting the NSA's arguments that it should be dismissed because the allegations are implausible.
The lawsuit claims the NSA collected the contents of text messages and emails as well as metadata about every phone call in the area before and during the games. It was filed by lawyer Rocky Anderson, who was Salt Lake City mayor during the 2002 Olympics held a few months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Anderson has said he learned about the program from a 2013 media report and confirmed it with a source he has declined to identify. He filed the lawsuit to learn more about what he calls covert, illegal operations.
Related:
Feds ask judge to toss case about 2002 Olympics snooping claim
The National Security Agency asked a judge Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit from a former Salt Lake City mayor who says the agency conducted a mass warrantless surveillance program during the 2002 Winter Olympics.The NSA did not immediately respond to telephone and email requests for comment Tuesday but has argued the lawsuit's claims are far-fetched speculation about a program that may never have existed. Government lawyers have also said the 2015 lawsuit was filed too long after the games happened.
The lawsuit claims then-President George W. Bush and then-Vice President Dick Cheney authorized the program, and they are also named as defendants in the case. They have not yet responded.
Anderson contends the spy agency likely still has data collected during that period, pointing to a massive NSA data storage center in Bluffdale.
The six plaintiffs include Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, who said he joined the lawsuit because of concerns about citizens' privacy.
Anderson served as a Democratic mayor of Utah's capital city from 2000 to 2008. He led a protest of the Iraq War during Bush's 2007 visit to Salt Lake City.
