United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

• Court
• Judges

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Federal Circuit Chief: John Bates Judges: 11 Posts: 11 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Coffman • Feldman • Hogan • Howard • McLaughlin • Saylor • Vinson • Walton • Carter • Zagel Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (or FISC) was established in 1978 by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). It is a federal court.

The purpose of FISC is to oversee requests for surveillance warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States by federal police agencies (primarily the F.B.I.). The FISA and FISC were a response to a report of the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (the “Church Committee”). This committee detailed allegations of executive branch abuses of its authority to conduct domestic electronic surveillance in the interest of national security

Vacancy warning level

The United States Court of International Trade's vacancy warning level is currently set at green. The court currently has no vacancies out of their eleven posts.

Jurisdiction

The Court possesses limited subject matter jurisdiction across the United States.

Cases heard

Warrant applications
Warrant applications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act are drafted by attorneys in the General Counsel’s Office at the National Security Agency at the request of an officer of one of the federal intelligence agencies. Each application must contain the Attorney General’s certification that the target of the proposed surveillance is either a "foreign power" or "the agent of a foreign power" and, in the case of a U.S. citizen or resident alien, that the target may be involved in the commission of a crime.

The judges of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court travel to Washington, D.C., to hear these warrant applications on a rotating basis. At least one of the judges is required to be a member of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

The act of 1978 also established a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, presided over by three district or appeals court judges designated by the Chief Justice, to review, at the government’s request, the decisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Because of the almost perfect record of the Department of Justice in obtaining the surveillance warrants and other powers it requested from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the review court had no occasion to meet until 2002.

History

Judicial posts

FISA originally authorized the Chief Justice of the United States to designate seven federal district court judges to review applications for warrants related to national security investigations. However, the Patriot Act of 2001 (115 Stat. 272) expanded the time periods for which the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court can authorize surveillance and increased the number of judges serving the court from seven to eleven. The Patriot Act also requires that at least three of the judges of the court be from within twenty miles of the District of Columbia.

Judges serve for staggered, non-renewable terms of no more than seven years, and must be from different judicial circuits.

Federal courthouse

The court meets in Washington D.C..

External links

• Federal Judicial History of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
• Rules of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
• FISA FAQ
• Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Orders 1979-2007

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

References

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Federal Circuit Chief: John Bates Judges: 11 Posts: 11 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Coffman • Feldman • Hogan • Howard • McLaughlin • Saylor • Vinson • Walton • Carter • Zagel Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

Active judges

Sitting judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has 11 posts. The current Chief Judge is John Bates. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Bachelors	Law
Judge James Zagel	1941	Chicago, IL	Reagan	5/18/2008 - 5/18/2015	U. of Chicago, B.A., 1962	Harvard Law School, J.D., 1965
Judge Jennifer Coffman	1948	Union City, TN	Clinton	5/19/2011 - 5/18/2018	U. of Kentucky, BA, 1969	U. of Kentucky College of Law, JD, 1978
Judge Susan Carter	1948	Texarkana, AR	H.W. Bush	5/18/2009 - 5/18/2016	Randolph-Macon Woman`s College, B.A., 1970	U. of Arkansas at Fayetteville School of Law, J.D., 1975
Judge Dennis Saylor	1955	Royal Oak, MI	W. Bush	5/19/2011 - 5/18/2018	Northwestern U., B.S., 1977	Harvard U. Law, J.D., 1981
Judge Mary McLaughlin	1946	Philadelphia, PA	Clinton	5/18/2008 - 5/18/2015	Gwynedd-Mercy College, B.A., 1968	U. of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., 1976
Judge Clyde Roger Vinson	1940	Cadiz, KY	Reagan	5/04/2006 - 5/18/2013	Naval Academy, B.A., 1962	Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D., 1971
Judge Malcolm Howard	1939	Kinston, NC	Reagan	5/19/2005 - 5/18/2012	U.S. Military Academy, West Point, B.S., 1962	Wake Forest Law, J.D., 1970
Judge Martin Feldman	1934	St. Louis, MO	Reagan	5/19/2010 - 5/18/2017	Tulane U., B.A., 1955	Tulane Law, J.D., 1957
Judge Thomas Hogan	1938	Washington, D.C.	Reagan	5/18/2009 - 5/18/2016	Georgetown '60	Goergetown Law '66
Judge Reggie Walton	1949	North Charleroi, PA	W. Bush	5/19/2007 - 5/18/2014	West Virginia State College '71	American U. Law '74

Pending appointments

There are no current pending appointments for the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Past judges

Former Chief judges

There are no current judges in this category. In order to qualify for the office of Chief Judge in one of the federal courts, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as Chief Judge. A vacancy in the office of Chief Judge is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The Chief Judge serves for a term of seven years or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position. Unlike the Chief Justice of the United States, a Chief Judge returns to active service after the expiration of his or her term and does not create a vacancy on the bench by the fact of his or her promotion. See 28 U.S.C. § 45.

These rules for Chief Judges in the federal judiciary have been in effect since October 1, 1982. The office of Chief Judge was created in 1948. Until August 6, 1959, the position was filled in each federal court by the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire on what has since 1958 been known as senior status or declined to serve as Chief Judge. From then until 1982 it was filled by the senior such judge who had not turned 70.

Former judges

There are no judges listed for this court.