How the Courts are Undermining the Bill of Rights

The New York Times reports how a judge in a secret court forced Yahoo to hand over records to the government without a warrant. Excerpt:

In a secret court in Washington, Yahoo’s top lawyers made their case. The government had sought help in spying on certain foreign users, without a warrant, and Yahoo had refused, saying the broad requests were unconstitutional.

The judges disagreed. That left Yahoo two choices: Hand over the data or break the law.  So Yahoo became part of the National Security Agency’s secret Internet surveillance program, Prism, according to leaked N.S.A. documents, as did seven other Internet companies. 

The Fourth Amendment is not the only Constitutional protection that is under attack from all three branches of the government.  The First Amendment is also a favored target.  The Supreme Court has also just ruled that there is no freedom of assembly in the plaza in front of the Supreme Court's building.  Excerpt:

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a new regulation barring most demonstrations on the plaza in front of the courthouse.  The regulation did not significantly alter the court’s longstanding restrictions on protests on its plaza. It appeared, rather, to be a reaction to a decision issued Tuesday by a federal judge, which narrowed the applicability of a 1949 federal law barring “processions or assemblages” or the display of “a flag, banner or device designed or adapted to bring into public notice a party, organization or movement” in the Supreme Court building or on its grounds.