Wiretap Court Flexes Judicial Muscle
The court that considers foreign intelligence wiretap applications is showing hints of an independent streak.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has operated in secret, even as federal officials disclosed that the court had limited the government’s ability to conduct warrantless wiretaps of overseas communications that are routed through the United States.
“In recent weeks, however, there have been signs of a new independence, perhaps prompted by the administration’s selective disclosures of aspects of the court’s orders,” Adam Liptak writes in his Sidebar column for the New York Times (sub. req.).
Last month, the intelligence court asked the government to respond to a request for release of its secret rulings limiting wiretaps. And the court took the further step of asking the Justice Department to make its responding brief public absent court permission to file under seal.
Now it turns out the intelligence court is relocating its offices from within the U.S. Justice Department to the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. Liptak suggests that move displays “interesting timing that may signify a fresh approach.”
