The ruling from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals deferred to Congress, which in June gave the NSA 180 days to shut it down. So the deadline remains November 29.

The appellate panel ruled in May that the domestic collection of information about who is calling who, when, and for how long was not authorized under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, as the NSA had argued. It said the program was too broad, that information about every American's phone call behavior wasn't "relevant to an authorized investigation."

But the court gave Congress the chance to weigh in before taking action.

The USA Freedom Act ended the program, but with a grace period.

The ACLU argued in court that the Second Circuit should end the program early, asking for a preliminary injunction. The Court disagreed.