Courtesy of "Best of the Web Today," comes this gem from the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Audrey "average intelligence" Collins.

"A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday," the Associated Press reports:

The case centered on two groups, the Liberation Tigers, which seeks a separate homeland for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, and Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan, a political organization representing the interests of Kurds in Turkey.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins enjoined the government from blocking the assets of the two groups. The same judge two years ago invalidated portions of the Patriot Act. . . .

In 2004, Collins ruled that portions of the Patriot Act were too vague and, even after Congress amended the act in 2005, she ruled the provisions remained too vague to be understood by a person of average intelligence and were therefore unconstitutional.

So laws are unconstitutional if "a person of average intelligence" can't understand them? Someone ought to get the Internal Revenue Code before this judge.

I have a suspicion that "average intelligence" Collins will get overturned on the merits in this case. However, this once again re-inforces the contention that the courts are at best ill-equipped to protect the country from terrorists. At worst, they're downright dangerous.

*UPDATE* According to Daffyd over at Big Lizards, Collins is a Clinton appointee, confirmed by a Democrat Senate in 1994.