Vox Sentences: The NSA's big loss at court

1. Court to NSA: that's illegal

NSA leaker Edward Snowden. (Barton Gellman/Getty Images)

• The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the NSA's bulk collection of phone records, revealed in documents leaked by Edward Snowden, is illegal.

  [New York Times / Charlie Savage and Jonathan Weissman]

• Legal arguments centered on Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which the government claimed authorized the collection of any phone records it thought could be relevant to terrorism investigations.

  [Vox / Timothy Lee]

• The three-judge Second Circuit panel ruled that this was wrong, that the NSA could only legally get your phone records if it thought they were relevant to a specific investigation, limiting the scope of the program.

  [Cato At Liberty / Julian Sanchez]

• But on one interpretation, the ruling is "mostly symbolic, with little practical effect."

  [Washington Post / Orin Kerr]

• This ruling comes at a critical time — Section 215 is set to expire on June 1, and Congress is currently debating whether to reauthorize it.

  [Vox / Timothy Lee]

• There's a very plausible case that the court ruling will kill a Congressional reauthorization of Section 215, and instead Congress will pass a more limiting bill, like the USA FREEDOM Act.

  [Just Security / Steve Vladeck]

• Today's ruling brought a fault line to the fore among Republican presidential candidates, who disagree quite strongly about NSA surveillance.

  [Wall Street Journal / Byron Tau]

• Here's the case that Obama should pardon Edward Snowden.

  [Vox / Timothy Lee]

2. A shocking twist in the British election?

Labour party leader Ed Miliband loves making faces. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

• British voters went to the polls today in what's expected to be the closest election in years, as pre-election polls showed a close race between Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party and Ed Miliband's Labour.

  [Vox / Dylan Matthews]

• If you're not sure how British elections work, this four minute cartoon explanation will get you up to speed.

  [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

• But here's the crazy thing: the latest BBC exit polls showed the Conservatives crushing their opponents.

  [Buzzfeed / Emily Ashton]

• If these polls are right, it'll come as a total shock to the British political world.

  [The Guardian / Jonathan Freedland]

• However, the nature of this year's election means the polls might be wrong — and it'll be pretty late when we know for sure.

  [FiveThirtyEight / Harry Enten]

• Some of the major issues at stake include the shape of the British welfare state, tax rates on the rich, and Britain's relationship with the EU.

  [The Guardian / Michael White]

• No matter which major party ends up winning, the pro-independence Scottish National Party may come out ahead.

  [Foreign Policy / Phillippe Legrain]

3. The Congressional battle over the Iran deal

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

• The Senate passed a bill called Corker-Cardin today, designed to give Congress increased oversight over the emerging nuclear deal with Iran.

  [Buzzfeed / John Stanton]

• Corker-Cardin gives Congress some ability to delay an Iran deal, but it doesn't change the fact that Republicans would need to override Obama's veto if they actually want to block an Iran deal.

  [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

• At the same time, 150 House Democrats signed a letter expressing support for President Obama's diplomatic outreach to Tehran.

  [Washington Post / 150 House Democrats]

• The letter matters because it indicates that Democrats have enough votes to sustain Obama's veto in the event that Republicans make a push to kill the deal.

  [Washington Post / Greg Sargent]

4. Misc.

• A pretty distressing map of 1,500 people killed by police in the last 16 months.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

• An absolutely horrifying investigation into the way nail salon workers are treated.

  [New York Times / Sarah Maslin Nir]

• We're slouching towards self-driving cars.

  [Bloomberg / Keith Naughton]

• How one ex-vegetarian feels about killing animals.

  [Aeon / Amanda Giracca]

• Remember bird flu? Turns out we're in the midst of the largest-ever American outbreak among birds — and there's a chance it could hit humans.

  [Vox / Julia Belluz]

5. Verbatim

• "Should Black Widow bag four out of six Avengers, the world that comes to mind is not 'slut,' but hero. Perhaps superhero."

  [TPM / Amanda Marcotte]

• "People only vote on criminal justice issues out of fear. People aren’t in fear today."

  [Washington Post / Radley Balko]

• "No one throws up better than Michael Jordan, and I proved it that night."

  [Clickhole]

• "Paul Warshaw hopes that, in the near future, consumers of marijuana can turn to similar services both for their drug of choice and for the delivery food that the plant infamously causes lust for."

  [Pacific Standard / Kyle Chayka]

• "We all know someone who loves cats a bit too much."

  [Vice / Amelia Tate]

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