Pasadena Congressman Creates Bill for Tougher FISC Appointment Procedure

In its bid to balance privacy and security issues, a Pasadena lawmaker will introduce this week a legislation that would require the 11 judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) be nominated by the president and approved by the senate.

“Giving Senate confirmation will let the American people through that confirmation process vet just who these judges are, what they’re views are on the Fourth Amendment, how they balance privacy and security issues,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena) told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO.

FISC is a special U.S. federal court tasked to oversee requests, usually from the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for surveillance warrants for national security purposes. The court was established and authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA).

This year, a top-secret order issued by the court sparked considerable public controversy when NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked it to the media, revealing that a subsidiary of Verizon was required to provide a daily, ongoing feed of all call detail records—including those for domestic calls—to the NSA,

Schiff added that because of the sensitivity of these surveillance requests, the FISC is a “secret court” and its rulings, orders and other deliberations are highly classified.

Although Schiff’s bill would change to right to appoint from the Chief Justice to the senate, it would keep FISC’s current seven-year term of service for each district judge.

Currently, the law mandates the Chief Justice is tasked to appoint a Presiding Judge for the court from among the eleven judges, as well to appoint three judges to serve on the Court of Review for government appeals of FISC rulings.

Because of this current selection process, 10 out of 11 FISC judges were appointed by presidents from the Republican Party — a pattern that Schiff, a member of the Democratic Party, said needs to stop, the CBS Los Angeles reported.

“It’s not a very diverse court in the sense of what President appointed the judge,” he told KNX 1070.

Schiff, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, told the radio station that he expects bipartisan support for the legislation once it is introduced in the congress either Thursday or Friday.