"FISA Court not a rubber stamp," judge says

[No Elephants]

FISA Court not a rubber stamp, judge says

ct. 16, 2013 | 2:30 AM
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The secret U.S. court overseeing mass surveillance told the Senate it changes 1 in 4 government spying requests, even though it approves almost all of them.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, often called the FISA Court after the 1979 law that created it, has approved more than 99 percent of government warrant requests, presiding Judge Reggie Walton told Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and seven other Senate and House committee heads and ranking members.

It has turned down no warrant requests in the past four years and denied just 10 of the 34,000 applications it has received since its 1978 inception.

<snip>

"hese statistics are an attempt to measure the details of what are, typically, informal communications between the branches," Walton wrote. "Therefore, the determination of exactly when a modification is 'substantial,' and whether it was caused solely by the intervention, can be a judgment call."

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/10/16/FISA-Court-not-a-rubber-stamp-judge-says/UPI-32131381905000/?spt=rln&or=3

If Snowden and Greenwald did nothing more than make FISA judges defensive, they would still have my undying gratitude.

BTW, you try having "informal communications" with a judge about a case pending before him or her. See how that works out for you.

However, FISA cases are secret and one-sided (literally) to begin with, so what the hell.

[No Elephants]

1. FYI The law creating the FISA court was passed when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress

and a Democrat was President.

Most of my adult life, I had this image of Jimmy Carter as a soft spoken Sunday School teacher who averted a war over the hostages and brokered the only Middle East peace treaty that worked, but who had been treated badly by the media of his time and by history.

And all those things are true. However, the more I learn about what else went down during his single-term administration, the more I am amazed.

Among many other things:

1. Deregulation began with Carter, not Ronnie.

2. The Bankruptcy Code of 1978 replaced the Bankruptcy Act of 1934. The latter was, of course, part of the New Deal. It provided for investigation of officers and directors of a bankrupt corporation that is publicly traded, to make sure they had not been negligent or fraudulent, etc. The 1978 Code did away with that.

3. And, now I realize the FISA court, which takes the life out of the 4th Amendment, was created during his administration.

What else I will learn about Jimmy?

[Enthusiast]

2. I don't believe the judge.

The FISA court is a rubber stamp.

[No Elephants]

3. I agree totally. But a couple of FISA judges have spoken out, showing

they are at least uncomfortable, as well they should be.

So, good on Snowden and Greenwald.