The attacks of September 11, 2001, ushered in a multitude of legal transformations that restrict civil liberties in the name of national security. But discussion of one change that could have particularly devastating consequences has been strangely limited. It concerns the secret and mysterious Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which exists in a legal twilight zone with virtually no connection to the Constitution or Bill of Rights.

Since its creation twenty-five years ago, the FISC has steadily amassed more power to intrude on people's lives than any court in our history, and it has never denied a government application for a wiretap or search in more than 14,000 requests. Last year, the seven judges on the court granted almost as many warrants as the 600 or so trial judges in the entire federal judiciary.

The FISC is certainly a peculiar institution. It hears only one side of every case--the government's. No defense attorney or member of the public has ever attended one of its sessions. Its judges (expanded to eleven under the Patriot Act), who are current federal trial and appellate judges, are handpicked by Chief Justice William Rehnquist for rotating terms. A FISC appointment is prestigious; jockeying for one is described as intense. FISC decisions cannot be appealed by a defendant--not even to the Supreme Court.

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