In October 2001 , President George W. Bush issued an executive order authorizing the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct secret wiretapping of telephone communications between U.S. citizens and terrorist suspects overseas in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks. The program, later called the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP), remained secret until December 2005, when the New York Times revealed the existence of the TSP. In January 2006, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, claiming that the NSA's surveillance program violated the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the separation of powers doctrine. The government argued that the program met constitutional scrutiny under the "special needs" doctrine warrant exception. Additionally, the Bush administration asserted that Congress specifically gave the President permission to authorize the program by its passing the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). This thesis analyzes the constitutionality of the domestic surveillance program by discussing the constitutional questions that the NSA's program elicits under the Fourth Amendment. Also, this thesis reviews the legality of the TSP under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). After an analysis of the Supreme Court's jurisprudence in Fourth Amendment, privacy, and eavesdropping cases, this thesis concludes that the NSA' s warrantless eavesdropping program most likely violates the Fourth Amendment and the separation of powers doctrine. Further, this thesis asserts that the TSP is illegal under the FISA and that the Executive lacks statutory authorization.

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Imagine a world where someone’s personal information is constantly compromised, where federal government entities AKA Big Brother always knows what anyone is Googling, who an individual is texting, and their emoticons on Twitter. Government entities have been doing this for years; they never cared if they were breaking the law or their moral compass of human dignity. Every day the Federal government blatantly siphons data with programs from the original ECHELON to the new series like PRISM and Xkeyscore so they can keep their tabs on issues that are none of their business; namely, the personal lives of millions. Our allies are taking note; some are learning our bad habits, from Government Communications Headquarters’ (GCHQ) mass shadowing sharing plan to America’s Russian inspiration, SORM. Some countries are following the United States’ poster child pose of a Brave New World like order of global events. Others like Germany are showing their resolve in their disdain for the rise of tyranny. Soon, these new found surveillance troubles will test the resolve of the American Constitution and its nation’s strong love and tradition of liberty. Courts are currently at work to resolve how current concepts of liberty and privacy apply to the current conditions facing the privacy of society. It remains to be determined how liberty will be affected as well; liberty for the United States of America, for the European Union, the Russian Federation and for the people of the World in regards to the extent of privacy in today’s blurred privacy expectations.