The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (or FISC) is a U.S. federal court authorized under 50 USC 1803 and established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (known as FISA for short). Its jurisdiction is to oversee requests for surveillance warrants by federal police agencies (primarily the F.B.I.) against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States. The United States federal courts are the system of courts organized under the Constitution and laws of the federal government of the United States. ... The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 prescribes procedures for requesting judicial authorization for electronic surveillance and physical search of persons engaged in espionage or international terrorism against the United States on behalf of a foreign government. ... 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... Official FBI Seal The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... Spy and secret agent redirect here; for alternate use, see Spy (disambiguation) and Secret agent (disambiguation). ...

Each application for one of these surveillance warrant (called a FISA warrant) is made before an individual judge of the court. Like a grand jury, FISC is not an adversarial court: the federal government is the only party to its proceedings. However, the court may allow third parties to submit briefs as amici curiae. If an application is denied by one judge of the FISC, the federal government is not allowed to make the same application to a different judge of the FISC. Instead, denials must be appealed to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. Such appeals are rare: the first appeal from the FISC to the Court of Review was made in 2002, 24 years after the founding of the FISC. A grand jury is a type of common law jury; responsible for investigating alleged crimes, examining evidence, and issuing indictments. ... The adversarial system (or adversary system) of law is the system of law, generally adopted in common law countries, that relies on the skill of the different advocates representing their partys positions and not on some neutral party, usually the judge, trying to ascertain the truth of the case. ... Definition and Explanation: Amicus curiæ (Latin for friend of the court; plural amici curiæ) briefs are legal documents filed by non-litigants in appellate court cases, which include additional information or arguments that those outside parties wish to have considered in that particular case. ... The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review is a U.S. federal court authorized under 50 USC 1803 and established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (known as FISA for short). ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Because of the sensitive nature of its business, the FISC is a "secret court": its hearings are closed to the public, and, while records of the proceedings are kept, those records are also not available to the public. (Copies of those records with classified information redacted out can and have been made public.) Due to the classified nature of its proceedings, only government attorneys are usually permitted to appear before the FISC. Classified information is secret information to which access is restricted by law or corporate rules to a particular hierarchical class of people. ...

When the court was founded, it was composed of seven federal district judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States, each serving a seven year term, with one judge being appointed each year. In 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act expanded the court to eleven judges, and required that at least three of the judges of the court must be from within 20 miles of the District of Columbia. No judge may be appointed to this court more than once, and no judge may be appointed to both the Court of Review and the FISC. The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. ... The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the Judicial Branch of the government of the United States, and presides over the Supreme Court of the United States. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey 2001 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... President Bush signs USA PATRIOT Act, October 26, 2001 The USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001)1 (U.S. H.R. 3162, S. 1510, Public Law 107-56) is an act of federal legislation in the... ...