9th Cir.;
16-16067

The court of appeals affirmed a district court judgment. The court held that the law authorizing imposition of a nondisclosure requirement on the recipient of a national security letter (NSL) does not violate the recipient's First Amendment rights.

Various laws authorize the Federal Bureau of Investigation to issue NSLs. An NSL is an administrative subpoena issued by the FBI to a wire or electronic communication service provider which requires the provider to produce specified subscriber information that is relevant to an authorized national security investigation. Under 18 U.S.C. §2709(c), the NSL may include a requirement that the recipient not “disclose to any person that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained access to information or records” under the NSL law. Both the information request and the nondisclosure requirement are subject to judicial review. Two recipients of NSLs, CREDO Mobile and CloudFlare, petitioned the district court to set aside the information requests and nondisclosure requirements contained in each NSL, arguing the nondisclosure requirements violated their First Amendment rights.