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I assume they're referring to Rand Paul (and also Ron Wyden) who have both made assertions that the executive branch has it's own secret interpretations of the laws that were passed post-9/11. The laws themselves are not secret, but what the government thinks they authorize is.

on the chance that I might sound naive, how does this supposedly work in regard to judicial review?

The court that reviews the interpretations is itself also classified, just like the interpretations and the verdicts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Foreign_Intellig...

Snowden cited this as the reason he came forward.

This applies to communications and stored records however, not end user computers.

> Snowden cited this as the reason he came forward.

yep. Once he realized that the NSA was outright lying to congress and the American people had no ability in law to actually know or address the abuses going on leaking the truth was the only way anyone would ever hear about it.

Of course there is no source, they are secret! Are you even listening?!

Try no fly list laws.