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Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
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The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was enacted in 1978, passed in response to revelations by the Church Committee showing widespread abuse of government wiretaps, and to growing concerns on the part of the Supreme Court over eavesdropping practices. The law governs the surveillance of people in the United States for the purpose of collecting intelligence related to foreign powers. A special, secret court was created to hear requests for such warrants. Safeguards were put in place to ensure that investigators pursuing criminal matters did not obtain warrants under FISA that they could not get from an ordinary judge.
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On Nov. 18, 2002, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court of Review, convening for the first time ever, overturned the lower FISA Court's May 17 ruling. The Court of Review said that Attorney General John Ashcroft's guidelines did not, in fact, violate FISA law or the Constitution, as the FISA Court had ruled.
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The appeal will be the first ever since the court's establishment under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and Justice officials said the case is necessary to ensure their ability to monitor and prevent terrorist actions. One key element of last October's anti-terrorism law eased the rules under which foreign intelligence information could be shared with criminal prosecutors.
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Last May, in a historic first, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court (FISA) made public a unanimous decision rejecting the government’s bid for expanded spying powers. After the Justice Department appealed, the ACLU was granted permission to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the appeals court, together with the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Center for National Security Studies, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Open Society Institute.
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This court, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court, refused to approve of certain procedures proposed by Attorney General Ashcroft. In an unprecedented move, it ... publicly released its ruling this August. The dispute, however, had been going on since May, when the Court announced its dissatisfaction with the procedures and its belief that they were contrary to existing federal law.
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The FISC Review Court is a special three-judge panel appointed by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist in accordance with provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The judges are: Hon. Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; Hon. Edward Leavy, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Hon. Ralph B. Guy, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
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Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act