Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's ruling was in response to an ACLU lawsuit.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060817/...s_surveillance

She said the taps violate free speech and privacy rights. I'm not so sure about the free speech argument. The privacy argument is stronger, though a lot of people argue that the idea of a right to privacy is a myth.

In any case, this bumps the pressure on the government up several notches. I presume the government will appeal the decision, which could lead to a Supreme Court ruling depending on what the appeals court does.

Here's a bio of the judge:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2006608070381

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Man up.

I doubt the Bush administration will even care what some judge from Detroit rules. Even if this ruling stands, the program is so secretive that theres no way to disband it. The only oversight is the briefing of congress people, I doubt they could even force the administration to abide by the ruling.

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"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. " — John Stuart Mill

Yet another defeat for the Bush and his spying on law abiding citizens with the pretext of defending them!

Check the last sentence in post.... Maybe if they can not divulge the information, the information was not to be had legally in the first place.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4123674.html

By SARAH KARUSH
Associaed Press

DETROIT — A federal judge ruled today that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

"Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution," Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. They believe many of their overseas contacts are likely targets of the program, which involves secretly listening to conversations between people in the U.S. and people in other countries.

The government argued that the program is well within the president's authority, but said proving that would require revealing state secrets.

It does bring the issue back into the forefront. Like so many other issues, it's shelved and accepted by the media and the general public.

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I've been informed....don't blame Bush, he's "not in control"
That must make him out of control

I'll tell ya: the liberal activist judges and the Democrats in this country are going to be responsible for bringing down the entire U.S. It won't be the terrorists: it will be the liberals.

Fitting that she is a Jimmy Carter appointee...Carter being the traitorous ex-president that he is.

BTW, you DO now, don't you, that the ACLU "shops around" for liberal judges they believe will rule in their favor when they file such cases......

In this day and age when our country needs to be protected, this is nothing to be proud of. Just the other day Dems and libs were saying we should be "more like Britain" and prevent things before they happen. And yet, they fight our attempts every step of the way. So, once again.....it's only lip service by Democrats. They don't really mean they want us to be "more like Britain." What they really meant to say was....."I'm going to condemn George W. Bush no matter what he decides to do or not do."

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“I’ve been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work.” — Barack Obama, Speech to ACORN, November 2007

Here's the text of the ruling, for those interested:
http://www.mied.uscourts.gov/eGov/ta...06%2010204.pdf

Maybe now people can attack the ruling instead of the judge....

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Man up.

Dear JP5, it is neither about GW, but rather against his claim that he can and has the ability to kick everyone's civil rights with a big old boot he got off e-bay and came from the 1933-1945 era Germany.
This terror non-sense has everyone so scared that they are willing to hand the administration (regardless of who is in power) the keys and not worry about the abuses of that power.
The reason why they have the rules against wiretapping is to protect the innocent. The reason why this program was initiated was to bypass judicial oversight over the spy agencies doing.
This is what totalitarian states do not what the US of A should be doing. This land was founded with the seperation of powers in mind and GW has tried (unfortunately quite successful) to disable/deminish the powers of the judicial branch and not allow for oversight.

This is portraied again as anti Bush post although it should be an anti gvt abuse post.

In behalf of all Michigan residents, I apologize for the Detroit-based bonebrain and terrorist-supporting Anna Diggs Taylor.

This goes instantly to the appellate level. She will be corrected, and the rest of us up here must live with her lingering shame.

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Delivering tasty bite-sized Clues to liberals since 1965.

That would mean not using ad hominem. JP struggles with this.

JP...
A little light reading:

"activist judges"

all Junior had to do was get a judge to OK the wiretaps - 100% approval rate - but he's too busy trying to make the Executive Branch higher than the Judicial and Legislative.

he thought Conservative legislators would go along but they like their territory also.