14 DAY TRIAL // The latest declassified documents coming from the US national intelligence office reveal that the FISA court really had just a rubber stamp role.
If it weren’t too obvious before, when it was revealed that the FISA court hadn’t rejected any of the requests made in more than a year, it is now.
The newly declassified files indicate that not only was the court aware that the NSA was overreaching its boundaries and collecting more data than it was allowed to, but it didn't have any real objections. The words used to describe the concerns were “continuously” and “systematically,” which shows this wasn’t a one-time event.
Despite everything, the FISA court didn’t even give the NSA a slap on the wrist, mainly because it felt that they knew what they were doing.
Kollar-Kotelly, the former presiding judge of the court, didn’t consider that metadata was supposed to enjoy protection under the fourth amendment of the US constitution, basing the decision on an ancient Supreme Court decision from 1979. Of course, the year isn’t that far away, but when it comes to technology and the way it has evolved over the years, it may as well be “ancient.”
Furthermore, even though Kollar-Kotelly expressed her hesitance several times about granting NSA broad authorities to collect metadata, in the end she believed that deference should be given to the “fully considered judgment of the executive branch in assessing and responding to national security threats and in determining the potential significance of intelligence-related information.”
Of course, the subject of metadata is quite controversial and many have argued that it should, in fact, be protected by the fourth amendment. Furthermore, nearly ten years ago, as The Guardian points out, James Comey, former deputy attorney general during the Bush administration and current FBI director, threatened to resign if the Internet metadata bulk collection continued to be insufficiently legally grounded.