The issue focused on the fact that many of the companies who have sued the U.S. government over the NSA's mass surveillance program have been allowed to keep doing business in the United States for more than a decade, despite being subject to a court order barring them from doing so.

"There are companies that have been allowed to go into the United States under this court order, yet there are others that have never been allowed to even be in the country. There are companies that have been able to operate