U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found the NSA’s metadata collection program revealed earlier this year by Edward Snowden to be a violation the Fourth Amendment, going as far as to call the program “almost-Orwellian” on Monday.

Judge Leon made the decision from a lawsuit filed by activists  Larry Klayman and Charles Strange. Klayman and Strange requested that the government be barred from collecting information and to destroy any information that the government has already collected through the program.

This decision has no immediate effect, however. Judge Leon will allow the government to make its own appeal stating he expects the government to “prepare itself to comply with this order when, and if, it is upheld.”

According to Fox News, the Justice Department released a statement: “We’ve seen the opinion and are studying it… We believe the program is constitutional as previous judges have found. We have no further comment at this time.”

In a statement given to the New York Times, Snowden said “Today, a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans’ rights. It is the first of many.” Jameel Jaffer of the ACLU, another opponent of the NSA program said “This is a strongly worded and carefully reasoned decision that ultimately concludes, absolutely correctly, that the NSA’s call-tracking program can’t be squared with the Constitution.”

An appeal from the government on the topic is expected anytime within the next few months.