Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | kontekbrothers)

The US Supreme Court yesterday denied a petition to review a case involving the National Security Agency's surveillance of Internet traffic, leaving in place a lower-court ruling that invoked "state secrets privilege" to dismiss the lawsuit.

The NSA surveillance was challenged by the Wikimedia Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. The Supreme Court's denial of Wikimedia's petition for review (formally known as "certoriari") was confirmed in a long list of decisions released yesterday.

"As a final development in our case, Wikimedia Foundation v. NSA, the United States Supreme Court denied our petition asking for a review of the National Security Agency's (NSA) mass surveillance of Internet communications and activities. This denial represents a big hit to both privacy and freedom of expression," the Wikimedia Foundation said yesterday.