And that is: if the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is the statute in question, as applied to the specific facts and circumstances of the NSA program, unconstitutionally -and these are the Supreme Court's words - impairs the ability of the president to protect our nation against attack, then that part of the statute itself is unconstitutional.
It found both the labeling statute and companion regulations unconstitutional because they forced producers to make involuntary statements contrary to their views when there was no material reason to do so.
Spitzer invoked an obscure statute that gave him debatably unconstitutional powers to subpoena enormous amounts of email correspondence from several large U.S. companies.
As Professor Chemerinsky noted when asked by the 9th Circuit to consider the issue as an advisor to the Court in the Rick Warren case, the statute (IRC 107) is UNconstitutional on its face.
The 6-3 majority opinion upheld a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that had declared unconstitutional the Stolen Valor Act, a 2006 statute Congress passed "to protect the reputation and meaning" of military honors.