One thing I don't understand about the updates to the law governing the FISA court:
How would there be any challenge to its rulings? Without a challenge, how would it be appealed to SCOTUS? Without a public appeal, how would the legal community be able to debate the merits of different cases as they do with other constitutional law issues?
It is like if the FBI was doing the bulk collection but never using the data to prosecute anyone: there isn't any place for the exclusionary rule* to restrain the prosecution.
>The surveillance court is subject to review by its own appeals panel, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. Both the Second Circuit and the surveillance review court are in turn subject to the Supreme Court, which resolves conflicts between appeals courts.
If I'm reading it right, the plaintiff here was appointed an "interested party" in some legal sense, which would give them the right of appeal? Am I misunderstanding that?
It is like if the FBI was doing the bulk collection but never using the data to prosecute anyone: there isn't any place for the exclusionary rule* to restrain the prosecution.
* this is a good intro for the unfamiliar: http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=1585