Judges for National Security

Judge John Bates, who has served on the special court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, acted in his role as director of the Administrative Office of the US Courts in sending Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT) a letter blasting his bill to rein in National Security Agency surveillance.

Judge Bates contrasted the Senate bill with a less extreme House bill passed in May. He warned the Senate bill could "undermine the twin goals of protecting privacy and national security."

Judge Bates objected to the creation of a standing group of lawyers who would argue in the FISA court against government requests for surveillance when there was a "novel or significant interpretation of the law." This would create the "risk that representatives of the executive branch . . . would be reluctant to disclose to the courts particularly sensitive factual information, or information detrimental to a case, because doing so would also disclose the information to an independent adversary."