Justice Department says it will appeal judge's decision

(CNN) -- A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government's domestic eavesdropping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately.

The Justice Department said it would appeal the ruling, saying the program was "a critical tool that ensures we have in place an early warning system to detect and prevent a terrorist attack."

In a 44-page memorandum and order, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, -- who is based in Detroit, Michigan -- struck down the National Security Agency's program, which she said violates the rights to free speech and privacy. (Read the complete ruling -- PDF)

The defendants "are permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly utilizing the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) in any way, including, but not limited to, conducting warrantless wiretaps of telephone and Internet communications, in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III," she wrote.

[Read on.]

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James Joyner has more here.

*** Update and bump Original timestamp 14:24.

Henry Mark Holzer was quick to get out a bio of the judge in question to his newsletter subscribers. I've posted it here.

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Judge decides she will run the war not W
Uncle Jimbo

Timing for this is absolutely Rovian. Just after the Brits use even more aggressive techniques than our government to stop a 9/11 redux, our own privacy-obsessed ACLUers find a judge who doesn’t think stopping these things is important, or at least important enough for us to listen in on the bad guys as they communicate with their co-conspirators. I think we may finally have the showdown over this we should have long ago.

[Read on.]

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John Hinderaker: "Consistent with unanimous precedent in the Federal Courts of Appeal, I would expect the 6th Circuit to reverse Judge Taylor's ruling and uphold the NSA program. That's a year or more off, however, and in the meantime the ACLU and the Democrats got the headlines they wanted from one of their own." Read John's whole post. He has some other interesting information about Judge Taylor.

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Mary Katharine Ham has more here.

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Ace:

On the heels of the SkyBomb busts, ably assisted by American signals intelligence (i.e., NSA intercepts), this judge has ruled that American efforts in this regard must stop immediately.

I don't question her timing. I question her sanity.

Rusty Shackleford:

Thank you Judge Taylor for shutting down the international wiretapping program. I feel so much safer knowing that my Constitutionally protected right to chat with Ayman al Zawahiri about the weather in Waziristan is safe in your hands. Thank you for saving me from the evil hands of George W. Bush. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I can finally breathe again after being oppressed for so long.

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Danny Carlton: Judge that ruled against NSA has history of ignoring the law

Curt at Flopping Aces, as usual, is excellent: Carter Lackey Overturns Program That Protects This Country

Contributed by Bill Faith on August 17, 2006 at 03:02 PM in Bill Faith, Islamism Delenda Est, Judicial Stupidity, War? What war? | Permalink

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