A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard oral argument in Mayfield v. United States of America in the historic Pioneer Courthouse in downtown Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, February 5, 2009. The United States was appealing the ruling that two provisions of the Patriot Act dealing with searches and intelligence gathering violate the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Brandon Mayfield, a Portland attorney who was wrongly suspected of involvement in the Madrid train bombing case in 2004, challenged the government’s secret surveillance of his home and law office as violating the rights of him and his family.