WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2021) A group of former US government officials, judges and civil society organizations, along with microsoft are petitioning the Supreme Court to hear a case challenging the secretly-reached opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said.
"Former government officials, former magistrate judges, media and civil society organizations, and Microsoft are filing amicus briefs with the US Supreme Court today urging it to hear a case challenging the secrecy of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court's opinions," the ACLU said in a press release on Thursday.
Former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were among those who filed the brief, the ACLU said.
"The petition was filed last month by the ACLU, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law school, and former Solicitor General Theodore Olson. The groups argue that the First Amendment requires the FISC to make its legal opinions public," the release said.
Congress created the FISC in 1978 to authorize and oversee electronic surveillance conducted for foreign intelligence purposes. Its role was originally narrow, but today, following legislative changes and new technology, the court evaluates broad surveillance programs including ones that involve the collection of emails, phone records, and internet data, the release added.
