The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC),also called the FISA Court,is a U.S. federal court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests for surveillance warrants against foreign spies inside the United States by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Police perjury,sometimes euphemistically called "testilying",is the act of a police officer knowingly giving false testimony. It is typically used in a criminal trial to "make the case" against defendants believed by the police to be guilty when irregularities during the suspects' arrest or search threaten to result in their acquittal. It also can be extended to encompass substantive misstatements of fact to convict those whom the police believe to be guilty,procedural misstatements to "justify" a search and seizure,or even the inclusion of statements to frame an innocent citizen. More generically,it has been said to be "[l]ying under oath,especially by a police officer,to help get a conviction."
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence on domestic soil.
The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR) is a U.S. federal court whose sole purpose is to review denials of applications for electronic surveillance warrants by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The FISCR was established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and consists of a panel of three judges. Like the FISC,the FISCR is not an adversarial court;rather,the only party to the court is the federal government,although other parties may submit briefs as amici curiae if they are made aware of the proceedings. Papers are filed and proceedings are held in secret. Records of the proceedings are kept classified,though copies of the proceedings with sensitive information redacted are very occasionally made public. The government may appeal decisions of the FISCR to the Supreme Court of the United States,which hears appeals on a discretionary basis.
The USA PATRIOT Act was passed by the United States Congress in 2001 as a response to the September 11,2001 attacks. It has ten titles,each containing numerous sections. Title II:Enhanced Surveillance Procedures granted increased powers of surveillance to various government agencies and bodies. This title has 25 sections,with one of the sections containing a sunset clause which sets an expiration date,December 31,2005,for most of the title's provisions. This was extended twice:on December 22,2005 the sunset clause expiration date was extended to February 3,2006 and on February 2 of the same year it was again extended,this time to March 10.
NSA warrantless surveillance —also commonly referred to as "warrantless-wiretapping" or "-wiretaps" —was the surveillance of persons within the United States,including U.S. citizens,during the collection of notionally foreign intelligence by the National Security Agency (NSA) as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program. In late 2001,the NSA was authorized to monitor,without obtaining a FISA warrant,phone calls,Internet activities,text messages and other forms of communication involving any party believed by the NSA to be outside the U.S.,even if the other end of the communication lays within the U.S.
Colleen Constance Kollar-Kotelly is an American lawyer serving as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and was previously presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
In re:Sealed Case No. 02-001,310 F.3d 717 (2002),is a per curiam decision by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review in which it reviewed restrictions that were placed upon a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) on May 17,2002. The Court of Review reversed the FISC's restrictions by stating that they "are not required by FISA or the Constitution." The opinion represents the first meeting of and first opinion by the Court of Review. For the purposes of review,the FISC's modification of the requested application worked as a "denial" and thus gave the Court of Review jurisdiction to take the case.
The United States Department of Justice National Security Division (NSD) handles national security functions of the department. Created by the 2005 USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization,the division consolidated all of the department's national security and intelligence functions into a single division. The division is headed by the Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
John Deacon Bates is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He was appointed by President George W. Bush in December 2001,and has adjudicated several cases directly affecting the office of the President. Bates served as Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts,from July 1,2013 to January 5,2015,after which he returned to full-time service as a District Judge.
Anne C. Conway is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. She is a former judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The Protect America Act of 2007 (PAA),,is a controversial amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on August 5,2007. It removed the warrant requirement for government surveillance of foreign intelligence targets "reasonably believed" to be outside the United States. The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 reauthorized many provisions of the Protect America Act in Title VII of FISA.
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008,also called the FAA and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008,is an Act of Congress that amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It has been used as the legal basis for surveillance programs disclosed by Edward Snowden in 2013,including PRISM.
Harold Albert Baker was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. He was originally appointed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois in 1978 by Jimmy Carter and then reassigned to the newly-created Central District in 1979. He became a senior judge in 1994. He was also a judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court until 2005.
Claire Veronica Eagan is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma and a former Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Effective February 12,2020,Chief Justice John G. Roberts appointed Judge Eagan as the chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference.
James Emanuel "Jeb" Boasberg is the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He served as the presiding judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 2020 to 2021 and is a former associate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Clapper v. Amnesty International USA,568 U.S. 398 (2013),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that Amnesty International USA and others lacked standing to challenge section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978,as amended by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008.
In Re Electronic Privacy Information Center,134 S.Ct. 638 (2013),was a direct petition to the Supreme Court of the United States regarding the National Security Agency's (NSA) telephony metadata collection program. On July 8,2013,the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a petition for a writ of mandamus and prohibition,or a writ of certiorari,to vacate an order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in which the court compelled Verizon to produce telephony metadata records from all of its subscribers' calls and deliver those records to the NSA. On November 18,2013,the Supreme Court denied EPIC's petition.
Carter William Page is an American petroleum industry consultant and a former foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential election campaign. Page is the founder and managing partner of Global Energy Capital,a one-man investment fund and consulting firm specializing in the Russian and Central Asian oil and gas business.
Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Investigation is a report by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General which was released on December 9,2019 by Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz. The report reviewed the Crossfire Hurricane investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),which looked into whether people associated with the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign coordinated with Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
