Privacy advocates looking to drag federal surveillance programs before a public court notched a key win Tuesday after a federal appeals court resurrected Wikimedia's lawsuit against the NSA.

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit allows Wikimedia, represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, to argue the merits of its case in a public courtroom. A Maryland district court dismissed the case in 2015, agreeing with the government's position that the plaintiffs lacked standing because their allegations were speculative.

While Judges Albert Diaz, Diana Motz and Andre Davis agreed Wikimedia has standing, the court ruled the other plaintiffs, which include Amnesty International and The Nation magazine, cannot move forward. Davis dissented on that point, arguing that those plaintiffs do have standing, but that his colleagues need not even go as far as to decide that given the conclusion on Wikimedia.