Although the Bush administration said in January the program is now overseen by a special federal intelligence court, opponents said that without a court order, the president could resume the spying outside judicial authority at any time.

The ruling Friday vacates an order by a U.S. District Court in Detroit last August that found the surveillance unconstitutional, violating rights to privacy and free speech and the separation of powers.

The American Civil Liberties Union led the suit on behalf of other groups including lawyers, journalists and scholars it says have been handicapped in doing their jobs by the government monitoring.

Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, one of the Republican appointees, said the plaintiffs failed to show they were subject to the surveillance and therefore do not have standing for their claims.

Other groups have filed challenges to the program in other courts; this case has proceeded the furthest.

The case will be sent back to the judge in Michigan for dismissal.