A federal judge ruled Monday that the NSA’s data collection programs, the existence of which was leaked by Edward Snowden, are “almost uncertainly” unconstitutional.  The opinion was full of very stern criticisms for the programs, which as you already know if you read VG regularly, are out of control.

Two men, Larry Klayman and Charles Strange, challenged the NSA on the grounds that their personal data had been collected.  Being Verizon customers, they had ample proof of it.  Interestingly enough, Klayman is a conservative legal activist and Charles Strange is the father of one of the men murdered on the ill-fated Extortion 17 mission.  I’m sure that’s just a quinkydink, though.  Think about it: The father of a murdered operator who’s been open about the shady circumstances under which his son died, and an outspoken conservative legal activist had their data collected by the NSA.  Either they got targeted, or they didn’t–because the NSA is actually collecting on everyone and these two guys just decided to stand up and do something.  Either way, the NSA is WAY out of line.

[Judge] Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, ruled that the two men “have a substantial likelihood of showing” that their privacy interests outweigh the government’s interest in collecting the data “and therefore the NSA’s bulk collection program is indeed an unreasonable search under the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.”

“I have little doubt that the author of our Constitution, James Madison, who cautioned us to beware ‘the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power,’ would be aghast,” he declared.

The judge also pointed out that so far, the government has been unable to cite one single instance in where their overreaching net actually stopped or prevented an attack.  While he did put an injunction in place blocking the NSA from collecting any more information on the two men—and forcing them to destroy what they had—the judge also put a hold on his own ruling in light of government appeal. The issue will probably end up at the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Edward Snowden weighed in via Glenn Greenwald, who released his statement earlier today.

“I acted on my belief that the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge, and that the American public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts. Today, a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans’ rights,” the statement said. “It is the first of many.”