NSA Wiretapping Program Illegal

U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, to her immense credit, has ruled the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program unconstitutional. Judges can’t always be relied on to stop lawless executive behavior when national security is invoked, so Taylor’s courage has to be praised. The President, as Judge Taylor correctly notes, “indisputably violated the provisions of FISA for a five-year period”; and hence, the program flagrantly contradicts the separation of powers established by the Constitution. (It’s important to note the time span involved; a President can plausibly assert emergency powers under Article II, but the 5-year span of the program plainly renders any such claim specious.) Judge Taylor also ruled that the program was a violation of the 1st and 4th Amendments. Her judgment represents a triumph for the rule of law.

Meanwhile, K-Lo has already asserted that to uphold the Constitution makes you objectively pro-terrorist. I think we can expect various other “libertarians” and “classical liberals” to follow suit…

…more from Hilzoy and Greenwald.

…principled nonpartisan libertarian Glenn Reynolds: how will this major civil liberties ruling affect the political prospects of my beloved Bush adminsitration?

…excellent analysis by Jack Balkin, who agrees with the result but questions some of the analysis. I agree that the separation-of-powers argument is the strongest one, but the opinion did not sufficiently focus on it.