SACK'D: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled on Thursday that the NSA's bulk metadata collection program was not authorized under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which governs foreign intelligence surveillance. Steve Vladeck of American University's Washington College of Law and Marty Lederman of Georgetown University Law Center break down the decision at Just Security. Orin Kerr of George Washington University Law School gives his take at the Volokh Conspiracy. The NLJ's Zoe Tillman reports that one judge on the panel waded into the debate among the three branches of the federal government over how to reform the system to balance civil liberties and national security. “In a separate concurring opinion, Judge Robert Sack reflected on the secrecy of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews the government's requests to carry out surveillance against foreign targets,” Tillman reports. “Sack noted that unlike other federal courts, the surveillance court doesn't operate under the 'strong presumption' that its proceedings are open to the public. That secrecy is mostly unavoidable, Sack said, since 'information cannot simultaneously be kept secret and made public at the same time—at least not this side of quantum physics.' But the absence of a 'robust adversary system,' Sack wrote, 'may be another matter.' There is no opposing counsel involved when the government makes its surveillance requests. Sack said including an adversary could bolster public confidence and generally improve the court's decision-making.”

LORETTA LYNCH: The new U.S. attorney general will open a federal investigation to determine whether Baltimore City police engaged in a pattern or practice of civil rights violations, the Washington Post's Sari Horowitz reported Thursday night. “Lynch's announcement about the Justice Department's probe—the latest in a string of municipalities that are being investigated by the federal government for civil rights violations—could come as early as Friday, according to two law enforcement officials,” Horowitz writes. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake requested an investigation on Wednesday. Earlier on Thursday, Lynch made her first appearance on Capitol Hill as Attorney General on Thursday, where she told members of the Senate Appropriations committee that she will “have a decision in the coming days” on whether to open the investigation, the NLJ's Mike Sacks reports. Lynch was there to testify on behalf of the Justice Department's $28.7 billion budget request for 2015, but the senators on the subcommittee on commerce, justice, science and related agencies peppered her with a wide range of questions beyond the morning's official business. Lynch also said the DOJ is reviewing the Second Circuit ruling against the NSA, but gave no indication of her plans to appeal.

CALIFORNIA DRILLIN': California environmentalist groups are suing the state agency overseeing oil drilling over practices alleged to threaten water supplies, Reuters' Rory Carroll reports. The Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club wants California's Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources “to halt oil industry injections of drilling wastewater into nearly 500 wells” and “to stop allowing oil companies to inject steam at about 2,000 additional wells injecting into aquifers,” Carroll writes. “DOGGR has ordered the shutdown of a total of 23 wells where wastewater was being injected into aquifers protected by federal law and is conducting a review of additional wells to determine their impact on water supplies,” reports Carroll, but the plaintiffs contend that such actions are insufficient to protect the state's water sources.

NO JUSTICE FOR LAW GRADS: Well, at least no Supreme Court justices, writes the NLJ's Karen Sloan. “One or two justices typically speak during law school or university commencement ceremonies each year, or show up to receive honorary degrees. It's possible that still might happen, as a few schools have not announced their plans. However, law schools tend to trumpet landing a Supreme Court justice far in advance of graduation.” Sloan reports that graduating classes and their families across the country won't be totally at a loss: Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, plaintiffs attorney Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm, U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., and former Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. are among the speakers at law school commencements this summer, with several visiting more than one commencement.

CLOSING ARGUMENTS: Lawyers for HBO and the Mitre gave their closing arguments to the jury that will be deciding whether the premium cable company defamed the soccer giant in a Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel report from 2008 showing child laborers hard at work assembling Mitre soccer balls. “The closing arguments Thursday—each side had three hours—presented competing versions of a story about exploitation, diligence and honor. At times, it almost seemed like the sides were arguing whether child labor was still a big problem rather than whether the HBO report was defamatory. Other times, the attorneys zeroed in on the report itself and meticulously deconstructing practically every image and word in a fashion that would (or should) give most journalists the shivers,” reports Eriq Gardner of the Hollywood Reporter's THR, Esq. blog. Judge George B. Daniels of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York will deliver jury instructions Friday morning.