Abolish the FISA Court

I saw an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal today that said abolish the FISA court because it was subject to abuse.  The only people who say that are people who have not had the occasion to use one on a national security case.  The writer of this piece is an exception. 

FISA courts have to hear cases that include some of the most sensitive classified information.  Sometimes, that information is so sensitive the government has to consider whether it wants to allow any judge, even one with a security clearance, to see it.  I know that sounds extreme, but some of the information is only accessed by a few individuals in the world.  It may be so sensitive that it is better to not prosecute a crime than risk the information being exposed.  Without a FISA court that would happen much more often. 

Yes, there will be abuses of FISA and the judges are partly responsible for making decisions a little too quickly, without asking questions.  That happens in any court, not just FISA.  That doesn't mean we abolish courts because they make mistakes, or don't take the time to review every filing.  The volume of some of these filings is unbelievable.  Sometimes, this forces the judge to make a decision without taking the time to review all of it, maybe even skipping the footnotes, or some of the other paperwork.  That is how they learn to be better judges. 

You have to remember we are talking about people who might be planning to attack a mall or shoot-up a New Years Eve party.  It is not someone like Carter Page very often.  Let's not get hasty about abolishing a needed court because the FBI left holes in their explanations on the warrant application.