Above the Law

It's a good day: a federal judge in Detroit struck down the Bush Administration's domestic spying program.

This is what the Detroit Free Press had to say about it. Here's the Detroit New's version (strikingly similar, to those who understand the normal bias between the two papers).

In the judge's statement, she wrote:

"Implicit in the term national defense is the notion of defending those values and ideas which set this nation apart," Warren wrote. "It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of those liberties which makes the defense of the nation worthwhile."

Yes. Yes a million times. She points out the irony in the Administration's policy. But then, in my favorite quote from her ruling, she points out:

"It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights," she wrote. " . . . There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent powers' must derive from that Constitution."

Unsurprisingly, the Justice Department has appealed to the overwhelmingly-conservative Federal Appeals Court in Cinncinnati. One article mentions that legal experts opine that the appeals court will likely overturn this ruling, which of course send it to Alito and Friends.

The real mettle of our Constitution will be tested there. I am encouraged by the Federal District Court's ruling, but remain quite worried about where this will end up and how it will play out in the end.