Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (often abbreviated FISA court or FISC) is a United States court established by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and is intended to provide judicial oversight for government agents who wish to engage in electronic surveillance, searches, and similar activities targeted at foreign nationals. It is a secret court, meeting in private so as to deter targets from becoming aware of the surveillance, while still providing American citizens communicating with foreign parties the rights ensured by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Following the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, in 2002 President Bush controversially bypassed the FISA court and ordered the National Security Agency to engage in electronic surveillance of conversations of American citizens with foreign nationals without a warrant from the court. The later passage of the 2007 Protect America Act contained provisions to grant the President the power to legally circumvent the FISC, but some allege that this means that such surveillance prior to the Protect America Act was in violation of the Constitution.