A US appeals court has ruled in favour of the government in a case challenging the National Security Agency's collection of millions of phone records.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed a decision by a lower court that found the program was likely illegal and sent the matter back to the lower court for reconsideration.
US President Barack Obama signed into law reforms to the program earlier this year, but legal challenges continue to make their way through the courts because the changes are not due to take effect until November 29.
The court's finding means the NSA can continue to collect the phone records until the changes go into effect.
The court found the plaintiffs had not absolutely shown that their own phone records were likely spied on by the NSA and therefore could not challenge the program.
The lawsuit was brought by Larry Klayman, a conservative lawyer, and Charles Strange, the father of a cryptologist technician who was killed in Afghanistan when his helicopter was shot down in 2011.
US District Judge Richard Leon ruled in 2013 that the collection was likely unconstitutional, but he put that decision on hold pending a government appeal.
Klayman, an activist who has filed hundreds of lawsuits against the federal government, said he is considering an appeal to the Supreme Court.
He also said he was confident he could prove that the NSA was "into my cell phone records".
Revelations by fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden about the mass collection of telephone and internet records, as well as US spying on key allies, angered privacy and civil liberties advocates and damaged US relations abroad.
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