U.S. Supreme Court snubs Wikipedia bid to challenge NSA surveillance

FILE PHOTO: The sun sets on the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., January 26, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a bid by the operator of the popular Wikipedia internet encyclopedia to resurrect its lawsuit against the National Security Agency challenging mass online surveillance.

Turning away the Wikimedia Foundation's appeal, the justices left in place a lower court's dismissal of the lawsuit based on the government's assertion of what is called the state secrets privilege, a legal doctrine that can shut down litigation if disclosure of certain information would damage U.S. national security.