The Judicial branch is deciding if the program is lawful. The do have the power of judicial review and so the separation of powers argument does not work.

The ruling was nonsense because it called the program unconstitutional and at the most it was unlawful which can be remedied by an act of Congress.

Jay makes a great point in stating it is the President’s job and not the judiciary’s in protecting Americans.

It’s the President’s job to do so within the framework of laws created by congress. There is currently a dispute over whether or not he has done so, so it is up to the judiciary to settle the dispute. If congress has a problem with that, all they have to do is pass clarifying legislation.

You all know this already. There are plenty of injustices out there, so there’s no point in getting worked up about the system working as designed.

BTW, gfactor raises a good point. I can’t imagine that the ACLJ has enough information on the program to honestly state the following:

The NSA program, with its built-in limitations and protections, strikes the proper wartime balance between security and freedom.