Episode #79: The Case For and Against a FISA Advocate
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 13 June 2014
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Tuesday, at the 2014 Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference, a panel of experts debated the pros and cons of adding outside lawyers to litigation before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Generally proceedings at that court are held in secret and ex parte, with only the government arguing its position. But, in the wake of the Snowden revelations, many have called for reform, and for greater participation by non-government attorneys.
The panel---comprised of Marc Zwillinger, Alex Abdo, Amie Stepanovich, and moderator Steve Vladeck---discussed the question of whether, and how, to add more adversarial process to FISC proceedings.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
| 0:04.0 | To access an ad-free version of the LawFair podcast, |
| 0:08.0 | become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | Think about the FISA Quarter Review. |
| 0:37.0 | You know, two cases have gone up to it, two cases have been published. |
| 0:40.0 | They've sat as a panel. |
| 0:42.0 | The FISA Court can sit on Bunk anytime it wants, |
| 0:44.0 | but the FISA Court does not sit on it. |
| 0:46.0 | Not sat on Bunk, and the FISA Court has never seen fit to publish its own opinions. |
| 0:50.0 | So, if you've got a special advocate who could take the decisions of the FISA Court |
| 0:54.0 | to the Court of Review, you would get a much more, |
| 0:57.0 | I think a system that we'd have a lot more faith in, |
| 1:00.0 | it would be review, so the Court itself, the District Court, |
| 1:03.0 | wouldn't be the Court of Law's Resort, which, you know, |
| 1:05.0 | isn't in the right of the Federal District of Fisheries, |
| 1:07.0 | so I don't know why I would be here. |
| 1:09.0 | And you would get a group that's used to sitting as a panel, |
| 1:12.0 | making decisions, three judges not one, |
| 1:14.0 | and a propensity to publish. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.