The 9th Circuit will hear arguments today in the case against AT&T for its role in the NSA’s surveillance operation.

The complainants, The Electronic Frontier Foundation, lay out the high stakes on their blog:

We won’t just wait for Congress to come to its senses, though — Americans deserve their day in court right now. Backed by overwhelming evidence, including whistleblower testimony from a former AT&T employee, our lawsuit alleges an unprecedented program of dragnet domestic surveillance. AT&T has given the NSA unchecked backdoor access to its communications network and its record databases, violating the rights of its millions of customers. While we certainly hate Congress’ recent dramatic expansion of spying powers, even the new law does not authorize such far-reaching, illegal, and unconstitutional dragnet surveillance, and it doesn’t change AT&T’s culpability for helping the government in its illegal activities over the last six years.

But Congress’ capitulation does make our case even more critical. All three branches of government have a duty to protect your rights. If the Administration succeeds in using “state secrets” claims to shut down our litigation after scaring Congress away, we may never be able to hold AT&T and the White House responsible for violating millions of Americans’ constitutional rights. And, more importantly, we may not be able to stop it.

Here’s a good primer on your constitutional right to privacy and here’s a specific write up on the 4th Amendment.