Too big and complex to preserve evidence

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been challenging the NSA’s warrantless collection of Americans’ private data. In the case the EFF has been challenged to ensure that the NSA preserves evidence, kind of a basic task in most court cases.  But the NSA, being the behemoth it is, argues that "Attempts to fully comply with the Court’s June 5 Order would be a massive and uncertain endeavor because the NSA may have to shut down all databases and systems that contain Section 702 information in an effort to comply."

The NSA, in other words, now says that it cannot comply with the rules that apply to any other party before a court — the very rules that ensure legal accountability — because it is too big.