Bush administration on NSA suit: Courts have no right to address the issue

Ed Brayton points out a paragraph from an AP story that says:

The Bush administration has urged a judge to dismiss a similar case, saying it threatens to divulge state secrets and jeopardize national security. The government argued in briefs that the courts cannot decide the constitutionality of the president's asserted wartime powers to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants.

As Ed observes,

If the courts cannot decide the constitutionality of such programs, then we might as well not have a constitution or courts at all.