Changing FISA

Max Frankel argues that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) should operate more like the U.S. Tax Court.  The judges of FISA are chosen from federal judges around the country.  The judges of the Tax Court are confirmed by the Senate for terms that allow them to become real experts in the subject.  FISA does everything in secret; the Tax Court reports the nature of its cases and its record of approvals and denials. "Most important, it (FISA) should summon special attorneys to test the government’s secret evidence in every case, so that a full court hears a genuine adversarial debate before intruding on a citizen’s civil rights."