Re: For our own good

Kelly's post on For our own good highlights the recent decision by federal Judge Taylor that declares the NSA's foreign surveillance program to be unconstitutional. I'd like to highlight a quote from this article from the Washington Post:

Judge Taylor's opinion is certainly long on throat-clearing sound bites. "There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution," she thunders.

What caught my eye were the following words in Judge Taylor's opinion:
There are ... no powers not created by the Constitution.

What I'd like to know is if Judge Taylor really believes this or if she is just using it because it happens to support a preconcieved conclusion that she had drawn for this case. I'd like to believe the best about the consistency of her convictions, but as an appointee of President Carter and therefore, I presume, a jurist of a more liberal-leaning persuasion, I can't help but wonder how committed she is to strictly following this underlying principle of her ruling in this case.

If there are truly no powers that are not created by the Constitution, then Judge Taylor would be obliged to declare Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid unconstitutioinal because these are not congressional powers delegated by Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. Somehow, I seriously doubt that the good judge would actually do this if presented the opportunity.

But, then, I have been wrong before....