How to surveil the judges on the FISA court

TRAC Reports - While informed probing of the FISA court is almost impossible, [this table] indicates that good deal is known about the previous lives of the eleven judges now serving in the court and how they functioned in the district courts from where they were drawn. The judicial temperament of a judge, for example, probably is reflected by the president who made her/his original appointment to the district court. The past professional experiences of a judge also may be important in shaping an individual's legal philosophy. The fact that a large proportion of the judges currently on the FISA court were appointed by Republican presidents and previously had been employed in the executive branch are characteristics that were previously noted in The New York Times

But a more immediate way to assess a judge's judicial temperament is possible: examine the key decisions that each of them regularly make while serving in district court and compare their decisions with those of other judges serving in the same court. Looking just at the three FISA judges drawn from the District of Columbia, for example, two are among those imposing the heaviest sentences, while one is at the other end of the sentencing scale. Sentence comparisons also differ by the type of offense involved — drugs, white collar, weapons, regulatory offenses etc. Thanks to TRAC's continuing analysis, such highly timely comparisons are currently available for all federal district court judges, including those now on the FISA Court.