The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (or FISC) is a secret court, which was established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), and oversees requests for surveillance warrants by police agencies, such as the FBI, against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States.

Because of the sensitive nature of its business, the FISC has hearings, which are closed to the public, and while records of the proceedings are recorded, those records are not available to the public.

Due to the classified nature of the proceedings of this secret court, only government attorneys are usually permitted to appear before the FISC.

Also due to the nature of the matters heard before it, this secret court’s hearings may need to take place at any time of day or night, weekdays or weekends, and thus at least one judge must be 'on call' at all times to hear evidence and decide whether or not to issue a warrant.

Each application for one of these surveillance warrants (called a FISA warrant) is made before an individual judge of the court and, like a grand jury, FISC is not an adversarial court.

The only party to the proceedings is the federal government but this secret court may allow third parties to submit briefs as amici curiae.

When the Attorney General determines that an emergency exists he may authorize the emergency employment of electronic surveillance before obtaining the necessary authorization from the FISA court.

The Attorney General or his designee then must notify a judge of the US secret court not more than 72 hours after the Attorney General authorizes such surveillance.

If an application is denied by one judge of this secret court, the federal government is not allowed to make the same application to a different judge of the FISC.

Denials must then be appealed to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.

Such appeals are rare and the first appeal from this US secret court to the Court of Review was made in 2002, 24 years after the founding of the FISC.

It is also rare for FISA warrant requests to be turned down by the court.

ACLU DENIED ACCESS TO FISA COURT

WARRANTS

Through the end of 2004, 18,761 warrants have been granted, while just five were rejected (many sources say four). Fewer than 200 requests had to be modified before being accepted, almost all of them in 2003 and 2004.

The four known rejected requests from this US secret court were all from 2003, and all four were partially granted after being resubmitted for reconsideration by the government.

BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND SURVEILLANCE

On December 16, 2005, the New York Times reported that the Bush administration had been conducting surveillance against US citizens since 2002, without the knowledge of this secret court. On December 20, 2005, Judge James Robertson resigned his position with the FISC, apparently in protest of the secret surveillance.

WHO IS ON THE FISA COURT?

When this US secret court was founded, it was composed of seven federal district judges who were appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States. Each judge serves a seven year term, with one judge being appointed each year.

In 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act expanded the court from seven to eleven judges, and required that at least three of the judges of the court live within twenty miles of the District of Columbia.

No judge may be appointed to this US secret court more than once, and no judge may be appointed to both the Court of Review and the FISC.

Here is a list of the Court of Review, current membership. (app=appointed, exp=expires)

• Colleen Kollar-Kotelly; (presiding) District of Columbia; app. May 19, 2002; exp. May 18, 2009
• John D. Bates; District of Columbia; app. February 22, 2006; exp. May 18, 2013
• Dee Benson; District of Utah; app. April 8, 2004; exp. May 18, 2011
• Robert C. Broomfield; District of Arizona; app. October 1, 200; exp. May 18, 2009
• Reggie B. Walton; District of Columbia; app. May 19, 2007; exp. May 18, 2014
• Malcolm Howard; Eastern District of North Carolina; app. May 19, 2005; exp. May 18, 2012
• George P. Kazen; Southern District of Texa; app. July 15, 2003; exp. May 18, 2010
• Frederick J. Scullin, Jr.; Northern District of New York; app. May 19, 2004; exp. May 18, 2011
• Roger Vinson; Northern District of Florida; app. May 4, 2006; exp. May 18, 2013
• Mary A. McLaughlin; Eastern District of Pennsylvania; May, 2008; May 2015
• James B. Zagel; Northern District of Illinois; app. May 200; exp. May 2015
• Ralph K. Winter, Jr.; Second Circuit; app. May 18, 2003; exp. May 18, 2010
• Bruce M. Selya; First Circuit; app. August 8, 2005; exp. August 18, 2012