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A federal district court judge ruled Thursday that the National Security Agency’s program of tapping international telephone calls without a warrant is unconstitutional, and ordered an immediate halt to the practice. Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's ruling was in response to a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who said that the program impeded their ability to do their jobs. You can read .pdfs of the opinion and the judgment and injunction order. Here’s a quick sampling of opinion on the case from the Law and Media/Journalism blogrolls.
Law BlogHers reacted quickly to the ruling. �We’ll see how that holds up,� said Ann Althouse. In the past, she has suggested that Congressional objections to the program were more posturing than principle. On the other hand, Echidne offered evidence that the program’s defenders would accuse the judge of coddling terrorists. Susie Madrak had a one-word description for people who think that way: �morons�.
Reactions from journalism BlogHers were also strong. Firedoglake noted that that this was the second judicial ruling to reject the Bush administration’s legal argument, and recommended Glenn Greenwald’s analysis. And Joy Reid didn’t mince words. Calling Judge Taylor, “Our Lady of the Constitution, she said,
“A federal judge in Detroit accomplishes in one ruling what the entire, sycophant Congress has failed to do for five years: provide proper checks and balances to careening, rapidly accumlulated, unprecedented presidential power. In other words, this wonderful African-American jurist just bitch-slapped the POTUS.[President of the United States]�
The Justice Department has appealed, so stay tuned for the next episode in this saga. What do you think the ultimate ruling should be?
