I'm using "contract" in a somewhat figurative sense here. Obviously the Constitution isn't an ordinary contract, but it has many of the characteristics of one. Also, I think it's a modern conceit that one cannot be bound by obligations agreed to before one was born. Society and government are continuous, and we "consent" to the governing rules by being born and choosing to remain a part of a particular society governed by a particular government.

As for the laws described in the article--they are not the product of Congress "ignoring the Constitution." The appearance of "ignoring the Constitution" is itself the product of certain civil libertarians believing the Constitution says more than it does, or focusing on what they wished the Constitution said rather than what it does say.