After the ECJ gave its judgment in La Quadrature du Net (joined cases C!511, 512 and 520/18), the Conseil d'État had to decide whether to follow the compromise it had set between the need for police and intelligence agencies to access metadata and the protection of fundamental rights. Although it rejected the French Government's request that it find that the ECJ had ruled ultra vires, the Conseil d'État chose to reject the authority of the standard set by the Court within the scope of application of EU law. Instead, it created a new exception to the primacy of EU law in the context of judicial review of national law, in order to ensure that national security concerns can prevail over the standards set by the ECJ. The judgment of the Conseil d'État allows for the preservation of most of the regulatory and legislative framework at issue in France and, crucially, represents a potentially serious threat to the effectiveness of EU fundamental rights standards.