Cue the Hallelujah Chorus

And put Anna Diggs Taylor on my Christmas card list

The federal district judge ruled that the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program was unconstitutional.

“Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution,” Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion.

As an actual, living, breathing, card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union, this is a red-letter day. And ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero certainly agrees.

“At its core, today's ruling addresses the abuse of presidential power and reaffirms the system of checks and balances that's necessary to our democracy,” Romero told reporters after the ruling.

He called the opinion “another nail in the coffin in the Bush administration’s legal strategy in the war on terror.”

A bit unfortunately, while this is more than a half a loaf, it’s not a full loaf. Judge Taylor dismissed the part of the ACLU’s suit filed against the NSA’s phone record data mining. She said not enough had been publicly revealed about the program to address the issue of state secrets involved with this and the potential for damaging them.

And, at the same time, let’s not forget Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and the other Democrats who voted to confirm the man who started this all, former NSA head Michael Hayden, to run the CIA.