Via the AP: Judge nixes warrantless surveillance

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government’s warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

This has always seemed likely the case to me–while there is no doubt that electronic surveillance with warrants or other adequate oversight are a necessary part of anti-terrorism policy, the notion that the government can listen into whatever it wants, whenever it wants because of some overly broad reading of Article II has struck me as problematic from the very beginning.

Of course, this story is far from over.