There Are No hereditary Kings in America

From the decision declaring the NSA spying program both unlawful and unconstitutional:

"We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no power not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent power' must derive from that Constitution."

Sometimes--all too rarely in my experience--a judge cuts through the fog of legalism and states a proposition with searchlight clarity. It's all too likely that an appellate court will find a way to reverse Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's decision, but those words will live, in the same way that the words of Andrew Hamilton (arguing for John Peter Zenger), James Otis (arguing against general search warrants) and John Adams (defending the British soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre) ring down through history. Those are the kind of phrases that make me proud to be a lawyer, and proud to be an American.