CA3: Verizon subscriber showed standing to sue NSA for seizure of all emails

Verizon’s turning over all emails to the NSA, reported in 2013, was sufficient for a Verizon subscriber to state standing to sue under Clapper. Schuchardt v. President of the United States, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 18025 (3d Cir. Oct. 5, 2016):

This appeal involves a constitutional challenge to an electronic surveillance program operated by the National Security Agency (NSA) under the authority of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Elliott Schuchardt appeals an order of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismissing his civil action for lack of jurisdiction. The District Court held that Schuchardt lacked standing to sue because he failed to plead facts from which one might reasonably infer that his own communications had been seized by the federal government. Because we hold that, at least as a facial matter, Schuchardt’s second amended complaint plausibly stated an injury in fact personal to him, we will vacate the District Court’s order and remand.