Urmila Sinhala, executive director of the National Endowment for Human Rights in Washington

“At every turn, the administration has undermined the rule of law and ignored the protections afforded by the Constitution as well as the law,” Sinhala said. “This administration’s contempt for freedom of expression is nothing new, and it continues to make a mockery of the rule of law.”

Last week, a federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled against the government, saying police should not have to obtain a search warrant to take cellphone location data of a mobile phone user when they have reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. An appeals court in New York has heard arguments on the legality of such phone tracking and issued its own order blocking the program Tuesday.

The new administration is also continuing its push to expand government surveillance powers through the collection of telephone and online information. The federal National Security Agency is one of the most aggressive spying agencies in the world.

The order released Tuesday requires the attorney general’s staff to submit to Congress a proposal by Sept. 10 “by not later than September 30, 2014” for the National Security Agency to stop using collection programs like roving wiretaps, in which U.S. intelligence agents listen in on foreign conversations.

Obama’s order does not define how much information should be collected as well as when it should be used.

“We urge the attorney general to use this process to address our many concerns regarding the privacy rights of Americans as well as Congress’ continuing focus on surveillance reforms,” said ACLU National Security Project director Laura Murphy.

“These measures are vital to reducing unnecessary privacy intrusions on our citizens, and we remain very concerned about the possibility that the orders authorized by the executive order would be used to target journalists, researchers and others who expose and protest abusive and illegal surveillance practices by the surveillance community,” she added.

The order also mandates that the department of Homeland Security review its computer systems to ensure the agency does not monitor and store Internet content.

The order also prohibits the government from obtaining or storing information on Americans through electronic surveillance unless it has a “compelling need for the information.” But the ACLU said the administration’s description of a “compelling need” doesn’t pass the sniff test.

The Obama administration has come under growing criticism for its response to the terrorist attack on the Benghazi consulate and death of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. The White House has also argued that the