--- category: Law Enforcement & Legal created: 2026-05-22 summary: Ashley Gorski is a senior staff attorney in the ACLU's National Security Project who has led the organization's Fourth Amendment litigation against Section 702 backdoor searches, including joining the defense in United States v. Russell. tags: - Person - ACLU - CivilLiberties - NationalSecurity - Surveillance - FISA - Section702 - FourthAmendment - Attorney updated: 2026-05-22 --- [Ashley Gorski](/people/ashley-gorski/) is a senior staff attorney in the American Civil Liberties Union's ACLU National Security Project, where she focuses on government surveillance, national security prosecutions, and racial and religious discrimination in the national security context. She has been the ACLU's primary litigator pressing Fourth Amendment challenges to the practice of "backdoor searches" of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act databases using U.S. person identifiers. ### United States v. Russell Gorski led the ACLU's intervention in United States v. Russell, 1:23-cr-00029 (D. Md.), the prosecution of [Brandon Russell](/people/brandon-russell/) for conspiring to attack the Baltimore Gas and Electric power grid. The ACLU joined Russell's defense team "for the limited purpose of challenging the government's secretive warrantless surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," a posture that allowed the organization to press the constitutional question without endorsing Russell's conduct or ideology. Gorski stated publicly: "Based on the government's own disclosures, the ACLU has good reason to believe that Mr. Russell was subjected to Section 702 surveillance and his case is a rare and important opportunity to challenge the government's practice of conducting warrantless 'backdoor searches' of its Section 702 databases to locate the communications of Americans."[^1] The ACLU's basis for inferring Section 702 collection was an ODNI document, "FISA Section 702 Value Vignettes" (February 14, 2024), which described an FBI investigation matching the disclosed profile of the Russell case. The challenge sought to establish a right to notice and to contest the constitutional adequacy of warrantless database searches of Americans' communications collected incidentally under a foreign intelligence authority.[^1] ### United States v. Hasbajrami Gorski and the ACLU National Security Project also represented Agron Hasbajrami in the extended constitutional litigation in the Second Circuit and the Eastern District of New York over whether Section 702 backdoor searches require a warrant. The Second Circuit's 2019 ruling in that case held that U.S. person queries constitute "separate Fourth Amendment events," and the subsequent January 2025 district court ruling (the first federal decision imposing a warrant requirement on Section 702 queries) was a direct product of the ACLU's litigation strategy in Hasbajrami.[^2] ### ACLU v. NSA and Related FOIA Work Gorski has led ACLU FOIA litigation seeking the public release of classified FISC opinions addressing Section 702 surveillance. This work produced the release of two FISC opinions in September 2023 documenting compliance failures including improper querying of racial justice protesters, January 6 Capitol breach suspects, a sitting state court judge, congressional campaign donors, and journalists. A further FOIA suit filed April 2024 sought additional withheld opinions.[^3] [^1]: Baltimore Banner, "ACLU Signs On to Defend Neo-Nazi Charged with Power Grid Plot." https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/neo-nazi-baltimore-power-grid-aclu-national-security-defense-PA277N47ANCLPAMBKAFHXNZ45U/; Baltimore Sun, June 27, 2024. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/27/prosecutors-will-say-in-secret-whether-they-used-controversial-spying-tool-against-neo-nazi-accused-in-baltimore-power-grid-plot/ [^2]: United States v. Hasbajrami, 945 F.3d 641 (2d Cir. 2019); United States v. Hasbajrami, 11-cr-00623-LDH (E.D.N.Y.), Memorandum and Order (declassified Jan. 21, 2025). ACLU press release: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/court-rules-warrantless-section-702-searches-violated-the-fourth-amendment [^3]: ACLU, "Government Releases New Court Opinions Highlighting Further Abuse of Warrantless FISA Surveillance Program," September 2023. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/government-releases-new-court-opinions-highlighting-further-abuse-of-warrantless-fisa-surveillance-program; ACLU v. United States (SDNY, filed April 2024). https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2024/04/2024-04-25-Complaint-Filed.pdf