[cma]

>some hope that the rule of law as being followed

Wasn't it already ruled illegal prior to Snowden and the phone companies had to be retroactively indemnified by congress?

[zymhan]

Close, I think that the premise the Bush administration used to obtain this information, "dragnet surveillance", was ruled illegal, which exposed the phone companies to lawsuits. Congress then retroactively indemnified them.

EDIT: This is it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_%...