A blow to the imperial presidency.

On August 8, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit ruled that the NSA's warrantless eavesdropping program is utterly unconstitutional, and ordered the Bush administration to desist immediately. According to Judge Taylor, "The public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution."

"We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution," wrote Judge Taylor. "There are no hereditary Kings in America and no power not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent power' must derive from that Constitution." In this case, the Bush administration has arrogantly insisted that the "Commander-in-Chief' power of the president permits him to set aside both the constitutional requirement for search warrants and the provisions of a law passed in 1978 permitting a special court to issue national security warrants retroactively for certain kinds of surveillance.

The Bush administration, unwilling to let the matter rest, immediately appealed the ruling to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. "We're going to do everything we can do in the courts to allow this program to continue," insisted Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.