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FISA, our secret court with secret proceedings to deal with secret charges under secret laws with secret interpretations. What could go wrong?

• deleted 2y ago
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• dragonwriter 2y ago
  The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and the higher level Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISA is the law limiting government surveillance certain of whose provisions they enforce) don't deal with “charges” at all, and the statute they do enforce the warrant requirements for (FISA) isn’t secret.
  • user3939382 2y ago
    Their interpretation of the statutes is secret thus we have secret law enforced by this court. The charges related to these warrants are secret if not adjudicated by the court. To be more direct, the existence of this court is an abomination in the context of a democracy.
    • dragonwriter 2y ago
      > Their interpretation of the statutes is secret Their application of the statutes to facts that remain classified are generally classified, sure. > The charges related to these warrants are secret if not adjudicated by the court. There are no charges directly related to the warrants because they are not criminal warrants. If there are criminal charges indirectly related to them, they are not secret, and are pursued in normal US courts, by normal process. > To be more direct, the existence of this court is an abomination in the context of a democracy. There may be ways to improve the processes of these courts, but given the functions they deal with and the facts that in other democracies (as in the US prior to FISA) there is often no court oversight of foreign intelligence surveillance, I think their existence is actually a positive thing.