A federal judge has struck down a controversial portion of the USA PATRIOT Act. The judge ordered the FBI to stop using national security letters to obtain email and telephone data from private companies without a warrant. The PATRIOT Act gave the FBI the power to demand private information about anyone in the United States without court approval. The law also gagged those who received the national security letter requests from discussing them. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the secrecy provisions are “the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values.”