United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court facts for kids

Quick facts for kids United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
(F.I.S.C.)
Location	E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse (Washington, D.C.)
Appeals to	United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review
Established	October 25, 1978
Authority	Article III court
Created by	Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 50 U.S.C. §§ 1803–1805
Composition method	Chief Justice appointment
Judges	11
Judge term length	7 years
Presiding Judge	Anthony Trenga

The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), also known as the FISA Court, is a special U.S. federal court. It was created in 1978 by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Its main job is to look at requests for secret permission, called warrants, to watch foreign spies or terrorists inside the United States. These requests come from U.S. law enforcement and intelligence groups.

The U.S. Congress created FISA based on ideas from the Church Committee. This committee looked into secret activities and civil rights issues by U.S. intelligence agencies in 1975. The FISC checks requests to conduct electronic surveillance within the U.S. These requests are about "foreign intelligence information" from "foreign powers" or "agents of foreign powers" who are suspected of espionage or terrorism. The National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) make most of these requests.

From 1978 to 2009, the court was located in the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building. Since 2009, it has been in the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington, D.C..

How Warrants Work

Each request for a surveillance warrant, called a FISA warrant, goes before one judge of the court. Sometimes, other groups can offer their opinions to the court. If the U.S. Attorney General decides there's an emergency, they can allow secret surveillance to start right away. However, they must tell a judge and ask for a warrant within seven days.

If one judge denies a request, the government cannot ask a different judge in the same court. Instead, they can appeal to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. Appeals are very rare. The first appeal happened in 2002, 24 years after the court started.

FISA warrant requests are almost always approved. From 1979 to 2004, the court approved 18,742 warrants and rejected only four. Fewer than 200 requests needed changes before being approved. The four rejected requests were all from 2003. They were partly approved after the government asked again.

From 2004 to 2012, over 15,100 more warrants were approved, and seven were rejected. Over 33 years, the court approved 33,942 warrants and denied only 12. This means only about 0.03 percent of requests were rejected. This number does not include requests that were changed by the court.

Notes:

In 2002, the court found that the FBI and Justice Department had given incorrect information in over 75 requests for warrants. This included one signed by the FBI Director. It's not known if this led to the court requiring more changes to requests in 2003.

In 2005, The New York Times reported that the Bush administration had been watching U.S. citizens without specific court approval since 2002. A judge named James Robertson resigned from the court soon after. Later, he criticized how the court allowed government surveillance to expand.

In 2011, the Obama administration secretly got permission from the FISC. This allowed the NSA to search for Americans' communications in its large databases. This was done under a program Congress approved in 2008. The court also let the NSA keep intercepted U.S. communications for six years instead of five. These changes happened without public discussion or specific approval from Congress.

Why the Court is Secret

The FISC is known as a "secret court" because its hearings are not open to the public. Records of its meetings are also kept secret. However, some records with sensitive information removed have been made public. Because of the secret nature of its work, usually only lawyers approved by the U.S. government can appear before the court.

Court hearings might happen at any time, day or night, weekdays or weekends. This means at least one judge must always be ready to hear evidence and decide on warrants.

A heavily edited version of a 2008 appeal by Yahoo! was published. This appeal was about an order related to the NSA's PRISM program. The name of the company that appealed was made public in June 2013.

How the Court is Made Up

When the court started, it had seven federal district judges. The Chief Justice of the United States appointed them for seven-year terms. One judge was appointed each year.

In 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act increased the court's size from seven to eleven judges. It also required that at least three judges live within 20 miles (32 km) of Washington, D.C.. No judge can be appointed to this court more than once. Also, no judge can serve on both the Court of Review and the FISA court.

Chief Justice John Roberts has appointed all of the current judges.

Current Judges

(as of 19 May  2024 (2024 -05-19)^[update])

• Anthony Trenga (Presiding Judge)
• Timothy D. DeGiusti
• Joan N. Ericksen
• Louis Guirola Jr.
• Karin Immergut
• Kenneth M. Karas
• Sara Elizabeth Lioi
• Amit Mehta
• Carl J. Nichols
• George Z. Singal
• John Tharp

See also

• NSA call database
• NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–07)