Judge Finds Dragnet Surveillance "Indiscriminate" and "Arbitrary", Allows It to Continue Anyway

Like the executive and legislative branches of government, the judiciary is an active opponent of basic constitutional rights and liberties in the United States.  Even when judges recognize the dangers posed by government action, they rarely act to stop it.  From Reuters:

From Texaswatch.org

The U.S. government's collection of massive amounts of data about telephone calls, a program revealed in June after leaks by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, is likely unlawful, a judge ruled on Monday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon stayed his own ruling pending an expected appeal by the government, but in a significant challenge to U.S. spying authority, he wrote that the program likely violated Americans' right to be free of unreasonable searches.

"I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary invasion' than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen," Leon wrote, citing earlier court precedent.

Source:http://blog.agupieware.com/2013/12/judge-finds-dragnet-surveillance.html