Such heterogeneity in the SLCP impact by ethnicity suggests that different assignment rules of the program could have increased the overall impact of the program on migration.
Only last year did the VA publish an official rule on how the program should be run.
The 2nd Circuit is the first federal appeals court to rule on the NSA program's legality.
But if the court lets the executive branch prevail in this dispute, its power will be almost unlimited for surveillance and the power of the judiciary will be gutted: it is possible no court will ever rule on the constitutionality of the program.
The judge, Earl H. Carroll of Federal District Court, did not rule on the merits of the programs, which have for the past few years allowed participants to enter plea arrangements that provide them closer supervision from probation officers and access to drug treatment programs.
In such programs an ordering on the program rules is used to express preferences.
The first judge to rule on the mass phone metadata surveillance program in an adversarial proceeding called it "almost Orwellian" and "likely unconstitutional".
How the court here, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, decides to deal with the document may determine whether the courts will ever rule on the legality of the wiretapping program.
But Cindy Cohn, staff lawyer for EFF, said its main objective was to get the courts to rule on the legality of the eavesdropping program, which the group maintains violates the Constitution.
The victory also came a few days after Michigan found out the N.C.A.A. would not come down hard on the program for rules violations under Rodriguez.
