The problem with only changing the law is that you are still going to have federal judges issuing secret rulings "rubber stamping" data collection. The real pr

The problem with only changing the law is that you are still going to have federal judges issuing secret rulings "rubber stamping" data collection. The real problem isn't that the courts are rubber stamps, its that nobody checks the courts work. Yes, I know the FISA court approves the vast majority of requests. Most judges approve the vast majority of requests. That doesn't mean they are rubber stamps; It means that DAs and investigators normally work hard to get their ducks in a row before asking for a warrant. These judges are human, so they make mistakes issuing warrants. Investigators are human, so they make mistakes (or "mistakes") staying within the bounds of the warrant. Then a defendant get brought in and their defense attorney sees the evidence against their client was improperly gathered. They file a Motion to Suppress and the judge or investigator is rebuked. If denied suppression, they can file an appeal and it can go to as far as the Supreme Court. Why is the FISA court a rubber stamp? Nobody checks their work. Why does nobody check their work? There are no suppression hearings on data gathered via PRISM because the data isn't used as evidence for a prosecution.