4 ms·

>The NSA phone surveillance program was illegal and expensive: And it did not stop a single terrorist attack "Was" illegal?

• monadic2 6y ago
  It was recently found to be unconstitutional by the supreme court, no? This seems to be asserting a stronger claim that it was also illegal then, not that it has since ceased.
• Joker_vD 6y ago
  "X was Y" doesn't necessarily imply that X is no longer Y: for that, English has "X used to be Y" construct.
  • lvass 6y ago
    "is" would be so much more descriptive in this case that one could argue the usage of "was" may be intentionally confusing, as to induce the reader to imagine either the surveillance ended or became legal.
    • bigbubba 6y ago
      'is illegal' wouldn't communicate that it was illegal at the time. It might be taken to suggest it is presently illegal but wasn't when it was done.
• orthecreedence 6y ago
  "I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too." - Mitch Hedberg