FISA 'Courts'

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie
--The Who

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requires an assembly to authorize surveillance on individuals. These assemblies are called 'courts,' which serves as a euphemism that lends an air of legitimacy to the unjust FISA process.

Judge Nap once again recounts just how far away from legitimate courts these FISA assemblies are. They are held in secret with rulings and records unavailable to the public. Only government lawyers appear before a FISA judge, meaning that there is no one on the other side to challenge the government's submissions. No probable cause of a crime needs to be presented.

As the Judge observes, it takes no constitutional scholar to realize just how profoundly unconstitutional FISA courts are. As our founding ancestors well understood, secret courts that do not respect the principle of due process are ripe for abuse. They are tools of tyrants and lead to the corruption of judicial process and to the erosion of freedom.

FISA-facilitated corruption has been coming to light in the case of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. McCabe allegedly approved the use of an unsubstantiated political dossier as the basis for obtaining a FISA court approval for spying on presidential candidate Donald Trump. The dossier itself and subsequent FISA court-approved surveillance formed the basis for an investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia by the Obama Dept of Justice, and now being run by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Where this particular investigation leads is anyone's guess, but it is clear that it was initiated in an unconstitutional manner. And this, the Judge notes, creates lessons to be learned. Courts that hear no challenge to the government are not courts as we understand them. They are merely vehicles to advance political agendas.

The purpose of the Constitution is to restrain government, thereby protecting liberty. FISA courts do the opposite. They infuse government with corruption and undermine privacy of us all.