Victory for the Constitution! Defeat for the Royalists!

Yes, Yes, Yes! Thank God for an independent Judiciary! A ruling(.pdf) against the NSA Spying Program has come down from Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of the Federal District Court in Detroit. In it, she tears apart the feeble legal justifications for the program. I'll leave the lawyer's work to the professional, and just hit the parts that rub my Constitution-lovin' ass the right way.

In this case, the President has acted, undisputedly, as FISA forbids. FISA is the expressed statutory policy of our Congress. The presidential power, therefore, was exercised at its lowest ebb and cannot be sustained.

Well, duh. I'm so glad I don't have to argue this anymore with conservatives, but it's frustrating it had to come to a judge's ruling to settle such a clear argument.

Also from the decision:

We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no power not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent power' must derive from that Constitution.

If anything ever deserved a big fat BOOYA, that does. "No Hereditary Kings!" Preach it, sister!

Of course, the right-winger's reactions to this will be fun and disturbing to watch. I give them 24 hours before someone makes a threat on the Judge's life. To start it off small, I've seen 2 items thus far. RedState is saying that "Judge Rules Defending US Citizens Unconstitutional," and the Corner calls it a "Terrorist-Friendly Ruling." There you go. Royalists, the lot of them.