> The other alternative is if the Supreme court rules spying is unconstitutional but then they are just ignored by the Executive branch
Is there any doubt that mass surveillance is "unconstitutional"? Do you think the people organizing the surveillance (ie. establishing the police state) give a fuck?
> for now there is still constitutionally protected rights and limited government
Constitutionally protected rights, such as Bradley Manning's habeas corpus, perhaps?
Limited government? -Oh please. The takeaway here is that strangely enough, a piece of parchment written 200+ years ago cannot magically prevent tyranny in 2014.
(Much like the very same parchment cannot magically grant some people rights that others don't have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ng... )